Elon Musk vs Julius Malema | Is outrage over 'kill the Boer' chant warranted?

Welcome back to SMWX! Today, we dive deep into the contrasting views of billionaire Elon Musk and South African politician Julius Malema on the controversial "kill the Boer" chant. Is the outrage surrounding this chant genuinely warranted or is it being blown out of proportion? We'll explore the historical context, the implications for South Africa's sociopolitical landscape, and much more. Join the conversation and let's dissect this together. Remember to LIKE, SHARE and SUBSCRIBE for more thought-provoking content!

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Credits:

Director: Lesego Rakobane
Production Manager: Noluthando Mkhize
DOP and Editor: Lesego Rakobane
Sound Tumelo Makau

About me: Dr Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh is an author, scholar and founder of the Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh Xperience (SMWX), a digital, youth-centred current affairs platform. He holds a DPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford and is a Lecturer in International Relations at Wits.

[chrisdippenaar]

Sing the song, as much as you like, you make a good argument for it.
Imagine, however, there was a similar song sung by white people where they talk about the Swart Gevaar and black people having to be killed. Sure, they don't mean it literally, they might claim that there's a historical context for it, and besides, they're practicing freedom of speech. To qualify it then, they don't sing it everywhere, just at cultural meetings and so on.
If you don't have a problem with that, your argument succeeds, but right or wrong gets ignored.

[traumaqueeen]

Sizwe, your book "The New Apartheid" should be in all South African high schools! We are not taught the full story of Apartheid in SA schools

[Coenie]

I am amazed as how i Wil be thrown in jail for saying a word starting with K which i do not use as something negative, but to sing Kill the boer is totally fine. These are old negative connotations and do not belong in this country. I have never used the K word as something other than meaning black but understand that is not how blacks feel and respect it. The same should be be true for this song. If you sing this song and make a pistol with your hand and go pa pa pa is not symbolic.

[VuyoNgcobo-qj]

I enjoy the analysis from Sizwe more than I enjoy the interviews. To Sizwe and the SMWX, keep up the good work.

[brainftv]

😂 Elon Musk is finally taking part in South African public discourse. I swear I thought he didn't want anything to do with SA after he left.

[afro_giraffe]

We are giving too much attention to this.
White South Africans have context of our country and its struggles.

Let also not forget that the were boers that never wanted this country to see freedom. They are still here bitter and loooking for any reason to divide the country with race

[Szavannasl]

Elon was spot on - this is literally a chant that calls for killing members of a group.

Those that speak out about it - do so because often they are aware of the fact that - in countries where horrible events unfolded - these types of songs and chants were sung and called at political rallies, broadcast on tv and radio - and it was done so for years and years till eventually horrible violent acts followed. People will call this out and rightly so.

An article says : "I remember RTLM broadcasting songs conveying hatred and demonising the Tutsi. The songs would openly call for our extermination. Political slogans were translated into song and young people were mobilised into youth movements."

SA is a war zone as it is, how will singing about killing those that provide food for SAns will help resolve all the crime, suffering and hunger.

[vuyondawo]

I'm surprised at you Sizwe making comments like that with regard to such a sensitive matter. It seems no one cares about the tenuous fragility of our democracy. Your stance on this matter may be construed as a tacit support for such radical and demagoguery tactic used to promote hatred and reinforce racial tensions in our country. I'm also surprised that people like you fail to draw the line between when it was expedient to sing such songs due to the context and now when it may not be wise and nor appropriate to do so. Mark my words, the use of demagoguery it's putting out country on a slippery slope to racial tensions.

[andriesp]

It is irresponsible to sing and chant “kill anybody”…

[mikesham]

I now understand why his father loses every court case!
Using Sizwe's logic, it is hard to see why people like Penny Sparrow where found guilty of hate speech given that she had no intention of hurting anyone.

[arnolddewit]

I would like to add a bit of context here, the reason why farmers feel they are targeted is because of the TYPE of crime, in a lot of these cases the farmers get tortured without any property stolen or damaged. This contrast with ordinary crime where the intensions are usually for monetary gain. Go read up on the types of tortures if you want sleepless nights. Farms are in extremely far from populace areas therefor these criminals make an effort to go attack farmers. So, what drives them to do so? Is it hatred, racism politicians shouting and singing for them to be killed? Can you understand how terrible it is when our presidents and politicians can't even see the wrong in chanting genocidal songs? Even if it is just a so-called struggle song. If there where white people singing such songs against black people, it is also just as wrong. should it be banned? in my opinion no, I believe in freedom of speech, but is it is surely a terrible song that should be condoned. Racism is illegal in South Africa, is this song racist, yes off course it is. In the context of our laws, it technically should be banned.

[mankaner]

As you can see it's my 3rd comment. This touched me a bit as I am dumbfounded by how someone with what I assume is a doctor's degree can master so much nonsense. You even quote your own book and believe in what you wrote that you quoted from someone else, like it's someone reading scripture.

[thenightmayor]

Honorable minister Walsh, As a caribbean born individual who has lived the majority of his life in Holland i can i sympathize with the cause and context of the controversy surrounding the honorable Juluis Malema. Curacao, the island to which I am native of, has had its share of suffering through colonization and has produced some of the best struggle songs in the native tongue till this day. In the debate on youtube between EFF spokesperson honorable Cmsr Sinawwo Thambo and dishonorable kallie kriel of afriforum it
was very clear that mister kriels intentions are dubious at best and his motives for what the germans refer to as weltanschauungskrieg ( which translates as worldview warfare) are eminently clear to slander and propagate fear. Here in Holland the police openly shoot farmers and the chant has never been sung nor was there cause for existential panic on an international scale. Maybe they need take teaspoon of cement and harden the f* up

[wwatson]

As an outsider, i am 100% admirer of malema and eff. There will always be people like musk. Musk would have no issue if SA was still under apartheid. I listened to him and he is truly a product of the apartheid regime. He is oblivious to the opressed and downtrodden. I only have a middle finger salute for him andhis opinion. GO MALEMA!

[hlamzar]

i really cant believe people accuse you of being a propagandist. you have a whole PhD, have been publishing your own thoughts and analysis independently for a long time. Love that they can never use that accusation to silence you. keep flying high bro

[mackmphahlele]

Malema&his ilk are in war against unspecified enemies.It's a waste of time to ask him about what he's doing instead let him pinpoint who are his enemies&what we must expect from him after he is defeated or after he has defeated his enemies. We need to know about future of our kids, now.

[TheBibi]

Hold up... you don't seem to know that everytime he sings that song that farm murder rates rocket... JUST because of that your whole initial argument falls flat on its arse. #sorrynotsorry There is a DIRECT corrolation between the song and a specific group of people being brutally murdered.

[arkuis]

I love how Sizwe says that calling people to take the words of the song "kill the boer" literary are saying "irresponsible things." All whilst bending over backwards to not say the same of the people singing the song and then proceed justify it being sung. Its like, through some magic (historical context, the imagined intent of the singer and audience), singing a deeply controversial song that, in its words, calls for violence against a category of people is not also "irresponsible."

Personally i think the song is a bit like burning the Koran or Bible. It is done irresponsibly by political actors to get free media. The main difference being that people can choose their religion but people cant choose their ethnic group or race, that makes the song worse than religious book burning because the target is racial rather than an object of choice like religion.

[kwezilomsosonkwala]

Interesting perspective. Thank you Mr👌

[jabulanisphiwekubeka]

But why continuesly want to sing a song that bothers people, there's a lot of other songs. You can just sing another song it doesn't have to be an issue