Trump was misled on white genocide claims – presidential adviser

African-American televangelist Mark Burns, in an interview with the Mail & Guardian, challenged the ‘white genocide’ narrative about South Africa and decried the country’s foreign policy ambivalence towards the dollar.

Burns is a minister of Harvest Worship Centre in South Carolina and a Republican who ran for state governor. He served as a board member of Pastors for Trump. An early supporter of Donald Trump in 2016, Time magazine named Burns one of the United States (US) president’s top advisers.

Burns’ visit to South Africa (SA) follows months of strained relations between SA and the US, which culminated in 49 Afrikaners being granted refugee status in the US and the awkward bilateral trade reset meeting at the White House in May, where SA president Cyril Ramaphosa was confronted with genocide claims by Trump.

M&G: What has been your experience of SA thus far?

Burns: I’ve been to Africa many times, the continent, but it’s my first time ever in South Africa. I feel like I’m in America. I’m going to be honest with you. There are so many similarities – from architecture to your transportation, your roads, your highways. Literally, I’m thinking I’m back at home in South Carolina, with the exception that we drive on different sides of the road.

M&G: In terms of the religious situation in SA and churches, and also the political scene, how are you finding it?

Burns: Obviously, the elephant in the room is the conversation with your president and my president in the Oval Office; how there’s been a conversation or a belief system that there is a white genocide that is happening in South Africa and that white farmers are being targeted and having their land stolen. Just based on the conversations that I’ve been having with Afrikaners and black, coloured, and Asian South Africans, I’m shocked to discover that most, not all of them, are shocked that this was something that was even spoken about in their country.

M&G: Do you think the personal experience of Trump possibly being here in SA might change his opinion on white genocide?

Burns: Absolutely. I mean, again, Trump is a man of peace. His goal is to bring peace and bring prosperity to all nations. That’s why he is doing things traditional presidents didn’t do, like talking with Iran, like having conversations with Syria … Maybe [white genocide] is absolutely true because [the media] is presenting evidence that we don’t know the truth of. We just know what’s been shown to us and that these white farmers who are here in the US in fear of their lives are being hunted down by black people. And so if that’s true, as a black man, I stand on what’s right and not what’s popular.

M&G: What were some of the key takeaways from your conversations with members of the Afrikaner community?

Burns: There’s a crime problem. Out of the 5 200 or so murders that took place in the last quarter of 2024, 12 of them were farmers. Out of those 12, only three were white. And so these are the realistic numbers coming from white Afrikaners who are here in SA and represent 70% of the farms. I just had a wonderful meeting with them, and I’m getting all this new information first-hand from leaders who, again, are white. If I was in a room full of black folks, I would probably say, you know what? You’re probably painting a different narrative to make yourself look innocent . . . Do they want more protection from legal law-enforcement officers? Absolutely. Do they believe there’s a crime problem? Absolutely. Do they believe they themselves are endangered because they’re a white farmer? No, they do not.

M&G: With SA hosting the G20 this year and handing over to the US in November, how can these two presidents, with Ramaphosa preferring quiet diplomacy and Trump’s confrontational style, find each other among the issues they differ on – from Israel and Palestine to Ukraine and Russia and the tariffs?

Burns: The Palestinian-Israeli war and the Ukrainian-Russian war are not US wars, let’s be clear. I understand that the president and the US carry significant weight, but these are not Trump’s wars. He has inherited these conflicts. You mentioned his brash personality. That’s why America voted for him so overwhelmingly, because we’re tired of being taken advantage of by the rest of the world. It’s the US versus the rest of the world. And I think your president could do what he did earlier [at the White House] – continue to ask the president to come and play golf, come to the G20, come to SA, see for yourself. But again, a challenge, and I could just say this, a challenge is Brics. Brics is a big challenge.

M&G: Please expand on the Brics issue.

Burns: I understand some believe Brics has no teeth and carries little weight, but to understand Brics represents Brazil, Russia, India, China and the ‘s’ South Africa . . . And for these governments to come together with the ideal – whether it’s strong or weak – to create a separate currency to directly attack, as Trump says, the almighty US dollar, that’s no good. And that’s no good for negotiations. It’s not good for trade. And ultimately, I could tell you the heartbeat of Trump is to bring wealth to everybody, for all nations to succeed, and that includes South Africa.

M&G: Do you see Trump attending the G20 summit in November?

Burns: I can’t speak for him. He’ll speak for himself. But if it was up to me, I would advise the president to come to the G20 … And the president is a smart and wise individual that when receiving the right information, he begins to question the validity of information that was given to him the first time.” – Mail & Guardian

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