Elon Musk was called illiterate on Wednesday by the leader of a South African party that the world's richest man had accused of pushing genocide in his native country.
The war of words between Mr Musk and Julius Malema, leader of the radical left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, is part of a controversy over a controversial song inherited from the fight against apartheid sung at the weekend last at an EFF meeting.
Mr Malema has come under fire from the main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) party for inciting ethnic violence by chanting Kill the Boer the Farmer at the rally in Soweto.The Boers are the descendants of the first European settlers in South Africa. Why should I educate Elon Musk, he seems illiterate. The only thing that protects him is his white skin, Malema said at a press briefing in Johannesburg.
Singing Kill the Boer has long been a thorny issue in South Africa, with its violent lyrics seen by some as inflammatory. “They openly push for genocide of white people in South Africa,” Mr. Musk wrote Monday on Twitter renamed X, the social network he owns, in a message that has gone viral.
Mr Musk, born in Pretoria, called on South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, head of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), a gravedigger of apartheid, questioning him about his silence.