According to an article in yesterday's Sunday Times, "US funding for HIV/Aids programs in South Africa this year comes close to matching the South African government's own budget for dealing with the epidemic." The article went on to say the US would provide R4.3-billion to South Africa in this year to support its HIV/Aids programs, whereas the SA government has budgeted R4.6-billion for the current financial year. So why is a foreign donor doing so much, or, to put it a different way, why is the South African government doing so little, relatively speaking? SARS collected taxes well over what was budgeted last year, so the government should be awash with funds to not only roll out what should have already been rolled out, and even expand on its HIV/AIDS programs. It should be a national embarrassment that this country, with Africa's strongest and most technically advanced economy, has donors providing close to half of the funds needed to fight one of the greatest human disasters in history. True, you cannot simply throw money at a problem if you do not have the people on the ground trained and in place to put the funding to work, effectively and efficiently. But that is another story; in the meantime, however, the funds must be there to significantly boost existing programs; they simply need to be allocated and applied properly. Is that too much to ask?
Rod Baker, Editorial Locum, https://www.bizcommunity.com