By Madeleine Hicklin MPL, DA Gauteng Spokesperson for Health
US President Donald Trump’s life-threatening freeze of the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) must be seen by the ANC’s Cyril Ramaphosa as a clarion call to reduce unnecessary spending on VIP Protection, Blue Light Brigades, and other ANC luxuries to reduce South Africa’s dependence on foreign aid donations.
The Executive Order signed by President Trump to halt all foreign-aid programmes for at least 90 days could still see all funding for global foreign aid programmes halt overnight. It has been partially and temporarily rescinded until this coming Monday by Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, as “other alternatives were being investigated”, but the implications for South Africa’s healthcare and employment stability are catastrophic.
The DA Gauteng believes this is a clear call for South Africa to take control of its destiny and reduce our dependence on foreign aid and donations – especially those that could have such a devastating effect on the healthcare and job stability of the country. Paying for the VIP Protection Unit, the arm of the SAPS responsible for the static and in-transit protection of the president, deputy president, former presidents and deputy presidents, Cabinet ministers, MECs and foreign dignitaries – costs South African taxpayers in the region of R1 billion per year. This excludes salaries for the members of the executive.
This money could be better used to ensure that those dependent on the USAID and PEPFAR funding can have their medication paid for by the South African fiscus. USAID and PEPFAR donations are for HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria, Maternal and Child Health, Family Planning, Nutrition, Gender-based Violence, and Gender-Reassignment hormone replacement therapy at state and provincial clinics and facilities across the country. PEPFAR has been funding HIV programmes in South Africa since 2004 and has invested R140 billion into the country to date.
The WITS Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (RHI) Trans Health Centre has confirmed that its major donor, USAID has suspended all funding and that they have closed all four clinics in Johannesburg, East London, Cape Town and Gqeberha until further notice. WITS RHI is directing all patients to their nearest government clinics or healthcare providers for assistance.
While the Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling on the Government of National Unity (GNU) to engage the US government to urgently restore PEPFAR funding, we also urge the government to do self-correction and cut unnecessary expenditures to fund HIV programmes.