Staff Reporter
The United States is to end funding for HIV programmes in South Africa, escalating a dispute over Washington’s allegations that Pretoria has failed to protect Afrikaners and other white South Africans, according to reports by the Daily Caller and BBC.
The Daily Caller first reported on 18 June that the Trump administration had notified South Africa it was ending its President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) support after Pretoria “failed to protect white South Africans from violence and displacement”.
The State Department posted the Daily Caller article from its official X account late on Friday.
The BBC reported the decision was “over claims of Afrikaner persecution”.
According to the Daily Caller, the State Department said it was ending the funding because South Africa had failed to:
- Provide exemptions or alternatives for US companies to Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment laws and other race-based mandates.
- Have senior government officials unequivocally condemn all race-based incitement to violence, including the “kill the Boer” song, more frequently.
- Prevent the implementation of measures that would allow expropriation without fair compensation and due process under the Expropriation Act of 2024.
- Designate rural crime a “priority crime,” and increase resources dedicated to high-crime rural areas.
- Refrain from actions that would significantly interfere with the implementation of the refugee programme within the confines of South African law.
A State Department spokesperson, quoted by the Daily Caller, said: “South Africa is a middle-income country and is more than capable of supporting its own health programs”.
PEPFAR, launched by President George W. Bush in 2003, has been a major source of support for HIV treatment and prevention in South Africa, home to one of the world’s largest HIV populations.
PEPFAR makes up about 17% of the country’s HIV/AIDS programme, while the state funds most antiretroviral procurement.
It was not immediately clear when the drawdown would be completed or what transitional arrangements, if any, would replace the current programme.
This is a developing story.
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