A decades-old anti-apartheid anthem, recently denounced by Elon Musk for allegedly inciting violence against white South Africans, returned to the spotlight Thursday following a ruling by the country's highest court.
The controversial song, featuring the lyrics "kill the Boer" and "shoot the Boer"—Boer being a term for a white farmer—has long been a source of contention in South Africa. Its use has primarily been confined to political rallies of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a small, far-left opposition party.
The song’s resurgence in the headlines follows a rally last Friday where EFF leaders sang the anthem, prompting Musk, who previously said free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, to take to X (formerly Twitter). He accused the EFF of "actively promoting white genocide," echoing previous criticisms of the song.
The EFF maintains that the song is a tribute to the struggle against apartheid and should not be interpreted literally.
There have been several court cases over whether the song constitutes hate speech and is an incitement to violence against whites in post-apartheid South Africa. It was declared hate speech by a court more than a decade ago, but that ruling was overturned in 2022, when a judge said there was no proof it incited violence.
On Thursday, the Constitutional Court rejected an application by a group representing some of South Africa's white minority to appeal the latest ruling and get the song outlawed. It was the second time an appeal by the group had failed.
Billionaire Musk, an influential adviser of U.S. President Donald Trump, grew up in South Africa and finished high school there, but left before apartheid ended in 1994.
He has cited the song as an example of how the current Black-led government in his homeland is allowing anti-white hate, and Trump punished South Africa in an executive order last month that cut all U.S. funding to the country and accused it of “hateful rhetoric and government actions fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners.”
The South African government said the executive order is based on misinformation and there is no persecution of white people, who make up around 7% of the population but are still on average far richer than Blacks more than 30 years after the end of the apartheid system of white minority rule.
'Shoot the Boer' lyrics
The song has especially been condemned in South Africa by a group representing Afrikaners — a specific white minority who are descended from Dutch and French colonial settlers. The word Boer is used colloquially for an Afrikaner and the song's roots stem from the fact that Afrikaners were at the heart of the racist white apartheid government.
The Afrikaner group, known as AfriForum, has long taken offense to the “shoot the Boer” lyrics and said Thursday it condemned the Constitutional Court’s decision to reject its appeal and instead “legalize calls for the murder of Afrikaners and farmers.” In response, AfriForum would expand its 177 private neighborhood and farm security patrols, it said. It also said it believed there was an “increase in ideologically driven judges,” a rare criticism of South Africa's courts, which are largely well-respected.
AfriForum recently traveled to the U.S. to meet with Trump administration officials, it said, and has lobbied conservatives in the U.S. to take notice of its cause for years.
Experts say there is no evidence of whites being targeted for violence in South Africa, although white farmers are sometimes victims of violent attacks in their homes just as many other races are in a country which has a desperately high crime rate and an average of 70 homicides a day.
This week, the spokesman for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told the Netwerk24 news outlet that the official crime statistics "proved that there are no mass killings of farmers in South Africa.”
The "Shoot the Boer" song is used now as a criticism that South Africa has not delivered a better life for millions of impoverished Black people, the Economic Freedom Fighters' fiery and often controversial leader said in testimony in one of the court cases.
Still, the song has revived racial tensions in a country that largely was successful in reconciling in the years after the segregation of apartheid ended in 1994.
The decision by the Constitutional Court to reject an appeal against the song's use was also criticized Thursday by the Democratic Alliance, South Africa's second biggest party and a member of the government coalition alongside Ramaphosa's African National Congress.
“The inflammatory “Kill the Boer” chant has no place in our society, regardless of any legal ruling on its constitutionality,” the Democratic Alliance said.
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