Some South Africans have dismissed the viciousness of a song, “Kill the Boer,” which was quoted by President Trump as an example of the alleged murders of white commercial farmers at a recent meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Reuters (Spetalnic M. Brunstrom D. Daphne Psaledakis. (21 May, 2025) The second Oval Office by Trump could make foreign leaders think twice. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/second-oval-office-ambush-by-trump-could-make-foreign-leaders-think-twice-2025-05-21)

A lecturer at a South African university, Joseph Mpofu, stated: “The ‘Kill the Boer' song is like the British army folk songs that reference conflict and violence, including the theme of killing the enemy. These songs often reflect their time's historical context and cultural attitudes.” 

Additionally, the song talks about killing the white farmer but does not encourage the actual act of murder, in the literal sense.

President Trump presented the videos during a meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to illustrate his claim that there was a genocide against white commercial farmers in South Africa.

The song was originally sung during the anti-apartheid struggle in the 1980s and 1990s as a form of protest against the apartheid regime. It is typically sung during a protest march called toyi toyi, where protestors stand in place, chanting the song in a call-and-response manner. The toyi toyi is believed to have originated in neighboring Zimbabwe.

An expert in culture, Thandeko Zinti Mkandla from neighboring Zimbabwe which hosted South African freedom fighters during the liberation war, says the song is nothing but a relic of the past that should not be taken to imply that it literally means that white farmers should be killed.

“I think that the White House is overacting and overstretching it’s imagination. There are more blacks dying than whites being killed in South Africa,” said Mkandla.

He gave as an example, the current minister of agriculture, John Steenhuisen, a white farmer, would not have been included in the government if it were running a genocide against white farmers.

Leader of the South African opposition party, EFF, Julius Malema, in a YouTube broadcast, said the song does not point to individuals being killed but the whole political system.(wla.youtube.Retrieved May 25, 2025 from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-XL1BeL790) 

“There’s no need for anyone to be afraid because if the words of the song carried a violent message, white people could have all been killed by now because the song has been sung for decades,” said Malema.

Leader of the white nationalist party, the Democratic Alliance, said last week, his party intends to file charges with the United Nations Rights Council, alleging Malema has a history of inciting ethnic violence and accusing President Ramaphosa’s ruling African National Congress government of failing to take action.

President Trump said the song is ample evidence that there is a genocide against white farmers, but President Ramaphosa pushed back, saying the “Kill the Boer song and other evidence that Trump showed in the White House do not prove anything.

Mpofu says no individual white farmer has ever raised an issue with the song, adding: “There are some whites who sing it in gatherings of their own. They wouldn't be singing the song if it were a threat to their existence.”

Last year, South Africa’s Equality Court in Johannesburg ruled the song did not constitute hate speech and that its lyrics – “Shoot to kill, kill the Boer, kill the farmer” – are not intended to be taken literally. Spetalnic M. Brunstrom D. Daphne Psaledakis. (21 May, 2025) The second Oval Office by Trump could make foreign leaders think twice.