Musk: far left want ‘white genocide’

The Twitter CEO has attacked a radical left-wing South African political party whose supporters were filmed chanting a controversial slogan during a rally.

Thousands of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) supporters gather at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg during the celebrations for the 10th anniversary of the political party.

Elon Musk has accused Economic Freedom Fighters, a radical left-wing political party in South Africa, of “pushing for genocide of white people” after a video circulated on X, formerly Twitter, showed its leader and supporters singing about killing white farmers.

Musk, who was born and grew up under South Africa’s apartheid regime, tagged President Ramaphosa in a tweet asking: “Why do you say nothing?” in response to footage of a packed football stadium of EFF loyalists singing: “Kill the Boer.”

Musk, 52, has declared himself a free speech absolutist and has welcomed extremists back to the social media platform which he rebranded as X. The rapper Kanye West’s account was re-activated last week following a suspension for posting antisemitic content. Musk has his own ideas about what content is dangerous or acceptable and is sensitive to criticism. Independent researchers who documented an increase in hate speech on the site since it was bought by Musk last year have been threatened with legal action by X.

Musk, who welcomed several far-right figures back to Twitter after they were previously banned, has used the platform to attack a South African radical left party.

The US-based Center for Countering Digital Hate recently received a letter from a lawyer for X accusing the research team, which has offices in Britain and the US, of intending “to harm Twitter’s business by driving advertisers away from the platform with incendiary claims”.

The EFF was founded a decade ago by Julius Malema, an expelled former youth leader for the African National Congress, who has promised to nationalise banks and land.

Malema, 42, brought his party’s anniversary rally to a rousing close on Saturday night by singing Dubul’ibhunu, an anti-apartheid anthem meaning “shoot the Boer”. Malema used his own X account to share footage of the song with his four million followers.

The lyrics have previously been declared hate speech by a court in South Africa, but after an appeal by Malema were later declared not to be harmful. The Supreme Court of Appeal will hear the matter again in September.

Despite Malema’s high profile, his party has won modest support at the ballot box and is the third-largest party in parliament.

At next year’s general election, where the ruling ANC is expected to lose its overall majority, the EFF could emerge as political kingmakers. Malema, who cites Venezuela’s former president Hugo Chavez as his role model, could be a likely candidate for deputy president or at least a potential seat in the cabinet.

THE TIMES