The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) strongly condemns the Donald Trump regime’s decision to cut an annual R8 billion in PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) funding to South Africa. This is a blatant act of political retaliation against our government’s unwavering support for Palestine; it seems to have been catalysed by an article in Foreign Policy defending the International Criminal Court (ICC) and criticising Trump’s proposed ethnic cleansing of Gaza, co-authored by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday, February 25.
This move appears not to follow any so-called policy concerns regarding the invaluable PEPFAR programme, or ‘white farmer murders’, or Black Economic Empowerment regulations, but is rather a calculated punishment for South Africa’s principled stand at the ICC and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to hold Israel accountable for its genocide in Gaza and apartheid-control of the West Bank.
This decision followed a joint statement by Presidents Ramaphosa, Gustavo Petro of Colombia, and Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia, and Hague Group coordinator Varsha Gandikota, who used the Foreign Policy article to demand the U.S. cease complicity in Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. It is clear that Washington is using financial blackmail to try and silence governments that refuse to bow to its imperialist interests. The U.S. is sending a chilling message: those who challenge its support for Israeli war crimes will be punished.
For over 500 days, Israel—armed and shielded by the U.S.—has waged an unprecedented campaign of destruction in Gaza, killing more than 61,000 people, mostly women and children. The genocide is being livestreamed for the world to see, and yet the so-called “international rules-based order” continues to crumble under the weight of U.S. hypocrisy. While South Africa and other Global South nations have taken decisive action at the ICJ and the ICC, the U.S. has doubled down on its support for Netanyahu’s regime, even as Israeli leaders face arrest warrants for war crimes.
The PEPFAR funding cut is part of a wider pattern of economic coercion. The U.S. and its allies have long used financial pressure to punish governments that refuse to be complicit in their imperialist agenda. Just as the U.S. imposes sanctions on countries that stand against its wars, it is now withdrawing life-saving health funding from South Africa because our government refuses to turn a blind eye to genocide.
The PEPFAR cuts are deep and wide, and regardless of foreign policy are also affecting our neighbours in Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Lesotho, Eswatini-Swaziland and Zimbabwe, as well as UNAIDS. If Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana does not make provisions for the R8 billion in cuts in the 2025-26 budget he presents on 12 March, there will be potentially half a million additional unnecessary deaths in South Africa, according to Professor Linda-Gail Bekker, director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre at the University of Cape Town, and other health scientists.
The availability of AIDS medicines is the main reason South Africa’s life expectancy rose from 54 in 2004 to 65 just before Covid-19 hit us.
SAFTU believes our government should not be intimidated by these acts of economic warfare. We stand in full solidarity with the Palestinian people and support all measures to isolate Israel—just as the world once isolated apartheid South Africa. We reject any attempt by the U.S. to bully South Africa into submission, and we call on our government to remain resolute in its commitment to justice for Palestine.
Furthermore, we demand that the ANC government:
• Immediately diversify South Africa’s health funding sources to reduce dependency on U.S. aid and resist financial coercion.
• Strengthen economic ties with Global South allies who share our commitment to an independent foreign policy.
• Expand sanctions and trade restrictions on Israel beyond arms transfers, including banning all imports and exports linked to Israeli apartheid, including regular coal shipments from Richards Bay to the coal-fired power plant at Hadera which in turn supplies the Israel Defence Forces with electricity.
• Mobilize mass action against U.S. imperialism—we call on the working class and all progressive forces to stand in solidarity against this attack on our sovereignty. It is overdue for the world to prepare a Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions BDS-USA! campaign, and also, in particular, to target a South African who is at the heart of the mischief, Elon Musk, with BDS-Tesla, BDS-X.com and BDS-Starlink.
South Africa was once at the forefront of the anti-apartheid struggle, and today, we find ourselves at the heart of the fight against Israeli apartheid. Just as we defeated the racist regime in Pretoria, we will not bow to U.S. intimidation. The people of Palestine will be free, and no amount of U.S. blackmail will change that.
SAFTU – Fighting for Justice, Defending Sovereignty!
A Statement was issued on behalf of SAFTU by General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
For more details, contact the National Spokesperson at:
Newton Masuku
066 168 2157
Newtonm@saftu.org.za
