DIRCO's Clayson Monyela Claps Back at Elon Musk’s Farm Murder Allegations
- The Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s Head of Public Diplomacy, Clayson Monyela, berated Elon Musk
- The tech billionaire shared a tweet about the temporary white cross monument in KwaZulu-Natal and alleged that the crosses represented murders
- Monyela responded to him with crime statistics and called him a liar, and clarified what the crosses meant and how long they were placed on the road
Tebogo Mokwena, affiliated with Briefly News, covered local and international politics, political analysis, and interviews in South Africa for Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News during his 10 years of experience.
Source: UGC
GAUTENG– Clayson Monyela, the Head of Public Diplomacy at the Department of International Relations (DIRCO), called billionaire Elon Musk out for one of his latest tweets.
Monyela posted a response on his @ClaysonMonyela X account to Musk's tweet. Musk reposted a tweet in his @elonmusk X account from Dr Maalouf, who shared a video of the P39-1, a stretch of road in KwaZulu-Natal, which had crosses on each side for a brief period. Dr Maalouf claimed that each cross represented a farmer who was murdered. Musk said that each cross is a murdered family.
View the tweet on X here:
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What did Monyela say?
Monyela accused Musk of lying. He clarified that the crosses were placed temporarily in 2020 as a symbolic protest following the murder of a farming couple. He said the crosses were a simple, short-lived memorial to draw attention to criminal attacks in rural areas. Monyela stated that the latest crime stats show that six murders were recorded in farming communities. He added that five of the victims were black.
Source: Getty Images
“South African law enforcement agencies are treating this category of crime as a priority, and as stats are showing, numbers have significantly come down, which means we are winning the battle,” he said.
Read the tweet on X here:
South Africans react
Netizens stood with Monyela and criticised Musk.
Mhlengsah said:
“A man of Musk's stature must have such info checked either by himself or his workers to make sure he is properly informed of things happening. The fact that he makes claims without fact-checking is wild to me.”
Phindi exclaimed:
“He loves to spread lies!!! We have a crime problem in this country, which unfortunately doesn't care about the colour of your skin. We have all lost loved ones in some senseless, violent crime. Racialising it is disgraceful and disingenuous.”
M.A added:
“You're wasting your time. You will notice they won't stop lying like this because they want to keep the lie going. No matter how many times you correct him, he will still lie to your face.”
Kevin asked:
“Please tell me why he is spreading misinformation about a country he would like to invest in? How do we trust him with our data?”
Kwena Meetse was unimpressed with Musk.
“You're wasting your time explaining to a sociopathic liar. This man knows exactly that there's no such nonsense as one cross for every murdered white farmer.”
3 Briefly News articles about Elon Musk
- Elon Musk questioned Broad-based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) regulations. He claimed in an interview that Starlink could not operate because he was not black.
- Musk said that he had different ideas for how he would comply with BBBEE laws. He said that he was willing to invest in rural area schools, but the government has not budged.
- Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela slammed Musk after he alleged that the government was racist. Musk shared a tweet from a netizen, and Madonsela hit back.
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Source: Briefly News
