US to end South Africa HIV funding over Afrikaner persecution claims
The United States says it will stop funding HIV and AIDS programmes in South Africa, in a move tied to allegations that Pretoria has failed to protect the white-minority Afrikaner community. The decision affects support that has been central to South Africa's response to HIV, a virus that still affects more than eight million people in the country. South Africa's health ministry said it had not been informed of the move and said it had long been working on a self-reliance plan.
Sponsored
The funding had been provided through the President's Emergency Fund for Aids Relief, known as Pepfar, at an estimated $400m a year until 2025. A US State Department official said a phased drawdown of Pepfar funding would now begin, citing South Africa's failure to make demonstrable progress on policy requests from the administration. The official said the aim was to foster self-reliance and reduce dependence on American funding, arguing that South Africa is a middle-income country capable of supporting its own programmes.
The cut is significant because Pepfar funding had been covering about a fifth of South Africa's total spending on HIV programmes. The support had previously received a reprieve last October through what was described as a bridge plan, but that arrangement now appears to be ending. The move raises questions about how South Africa will manage the gap in funding for treatment, prevention and wider public-health services if the withdrawal proceeds as announced.
The decision also comes against a backdrop of worsening relations between Washington and Pretoria since Donald Trump returned to office. Shortly after taking office, Trump issued an executive order alleging that South African policies had dismantled equal opportunities and fuelled violence against racially disfavoured landowners, claims the South African government disputes. The order also referred to South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and its ties with Iran, and the White House said further aid would not be provided because of what it called unjust and immoral practices.
Sponsored
Trump has also repeated the false claim that a white genocide is taking place in South Africa, and his administration has set up a refugee programme for Afrikaners, who are descendants of western Europeans who settled in southern Africa in the 17th Century. The row over aid therefore sits within a broader political dispute that now spans race, foreign policy and development assistance. It also places South Africa's domestic inequality debate back under international scrutiny, with the government defending its Black Economic Empowerment policy as a response to apartheid-era inequality.
What remains unclear is how quickly the funding will be withdrawn and what practical effect the phased drawdown will have on clinics and treatment programmes. South Africa has said it has not been formally informed, so the timing and implementation details may still change. The key issue now is whether domestic funding and the self-reliance plan can offset the loss of a major external contributor without disrupting HIV services.
Sponsored
