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The Twatterbaas account has been spreading misinformation on X about the country, which seems to have been picked up by US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
A screengrab of the Twatterbaas account on X.
As South Africa tries to quell the tensions with the United States, an influential, right-wing X account has been posting racist tropes that have reinforced misinformation about the country.
The government said it has taken note of the reports which claim that Sebastiaan Jooste, a 46-year-old former farmer, is behind the social media account “Boer” (@twatterbaas) on X. The account is accused of spreading racist views, hate speech and false information.
The account is thought to have influenced US President Donald Trump and his South African-born billionaire donor, Elon Musk.
On Tuesday, the X account was unmasked by News24.
The report stated that “Boer” (@twatterbaas) is run by Jooste, who, for the past year, pretended to still be a farmer. He has instead been running a 4-star guest house in Gordon’s Bay, near Cape Town.
The report revealed that nearly 300 interactions between Jooste and Musk since June 2024, with Jooste addressing or reposting Musk’s posts 274 times.
In turn, Musk has interacted with Jooste’s @Twatterbaas account 20 times.
The Citizen has reached out to “Boer”. His comments will be added once received.
ALSO READ: Ramaphosa to meet Trump face-to-face to resolve diplomatic fallout
Acting Government Communication and Information Systems spokesperson Terry Vandayar said they have taken note of the reports about “Boer”.
“Appreciating that law enforcement agencies are continuing to investigate incidents of misinformation, the government strongly condemns deliberate acts of misinformation and promotion of racial hatred.
“South Africa is the first country to protect freedom of expression, it is a constitutional right, but this does not offer protection for hate speech or deliberate misinformation. Law enforcement will not hesitate to act against those who violate the laws of the country, regardless of their colour and creed,” Vandayar said.
Vandayar refuted claims that there is a “white genocide” in South Africa.
“On allegations about farm murders at a genocidal scale, crime statistics released by Saps showed that in the third quarter of 2024/25 only one farmer, who happens to be white, was murdered.
“While every murder is one too many, claims of an increased scale of farm murders are a lie. Law enforcement agencies are actually winning the fight against farm murders,” Vandayar added.
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Since the start of his second term, Trump has singled South Africa out for criticism. The US president cut financial aid to South Africa, citing the country taking Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and “strengthening ties with Iran, which supports terrorism globally”.
Trump said “terrible things” were happening in the country after the passing of the Expropriation Act, which he believes is pushing Afrikaans farmers out of the country.
The US president has since offered them refuge in his country with an expedited pathway to US citizenship.
According to Trump, “any farmer” who is “seeking to flee” South Africa “for reasons of safety” can now apply to become a US citizen – rather than a refugee.
Tensions between the two countries were further heightened following former South African ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool’s recent remarks on Trump.
Rasool was expelled by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio after he claimed in a webinar that Trump is leading a global white supremacist movement.
On at least one occasion in March 2025, a post by Twatterbaas of a video of EFF leader Julius Malema singing the controversial song “Kill the boer” was quoted by Musk, who added a label of “white genocide”, was picked up and reposted by Trump on his own social media platform, Truth Social.
Jooste’s Twatterbaas account has, through posts focusing on white farmers and what he deems to be racially motivated government policies, racked up hundreds of millions of views on X. These posts were promoted by Musk, who has the largest following on the platform at nearly 220 million users, according to News24.
ALSO READ: Musk takes fresh ‘genocide’ swipe at Malema
With relations between the US and South Africa at an all-time low, President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to meet face-to-face with Trump to discuss the diplomatic fallout between the two countries.
A phone call this week between Ramaphosa and Trump appeared to have made strides towards resolving the simmering tensions between the US and South Africa.
“President Trump and I also agreed to meet soon to address this and various matters regarding relations between South Africa and the United States. We both spoke about the need to foster good relations between our two countries,” said Ramaphosa.
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