Billionaire businessman Elon Musk has requested U.S. President Donald Trump to sanction South African politician Julius Malema for demanding the killing of white people in the black country.

In a tweet on Sunday, Mr Musk accused Mr Malema of “calling for the genocide of white people in the country” after the South African politician said the black country would “cut the throat of whiteness.”

Mr Malema, a member of the South African Assembly and founder of the Economic Freedom Fighters, said this after the U.S. president’s executive order halting financial aid to South Africa over concerns that its recently enacted Expropriation Act 13 of 2024 (Act) would deprive white farmers of swathes of land,

“These people, when you want to hit them hard, go after a white man,” the South African said in a viral video seen by Peoples Gazette on Sunday. “They feel terrible pain because you have touched a white man; we’re cutting the throat of whiteness. We will kill white women, children, and their pets.”

Reacting to the South African’s comment, Mr Musk demanded that Mr Trump sanction Mr Malema and declare him an international criminal.

“Why do you allow this, @CyrilRamaphosa? This is a major political party in the South African parliament, and their leader is calling for genocide of white people. Immediate sanctions for Malema and declaration of him as an international criminal,” Mr Musk insisted.

Mr Trump has signed a flurry of executive orders since he assumed office on January 20.

In response to Mr Trump’s executive order on South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa stated the U.S. only contributes to 17 per cent of its funding for HIV/AIDS, dismissing the country’s overdependence on the U.S.

“With the exception of PEPFAR Aid, which constitutes 17% of South Africa’s HIV/AIDS programme, there is no other funding that is received by South Africa from the United States,” said Mr Ramaphosa.