[afro-nets] SA Government Failing to Disburse Global Fund Money

[Steve Fouch <steve.fouch@cmf.org.uk>]

South African Government Failing To Disburse Global Fund Money
Executive Director Says, Threatens To Withdraw Funding
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http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=23906

The South African government is failing to disburse grant money
from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to
organizations combating the disease "on the ground," Global Fund
Executive Director Richard Feachem said this week, adding that
the fund may withdraw the country's money as a result, Reuters
reports. Speaking to the South African media, Feachem said,
"It's intolerable that the money gets stuck in Pretoria and if
Pretoria can't move it for any reason, we will simply withdraw
it and establish direct relationships with the people actually
doing the work" (Quinn, Reuters, 5/25). The South African gov-
ernment and the Global Fund in August 2003 signed agreements
pledging $41 million over two years for HIV/AIDS and TB treat-
ment and prevention programs. The grants are meant to help im-
prove access to antiretroviral therapy for HIV-positive people
and bolster voluntary testing and counseling programs in
KwaZulu-Natal, the South African province hardest hit by the
epidemic. More than one-third of the population in the province
is estimated to be HIV-positive, and about 15% of the country's
total TB cases live in the province (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Re-
port, 8/7/03).

Health Department Reaction

South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Tues-
day said she was "surpris[ed]" and in "disbelief" after hearing
Feachem's statements, according to Reuters. "Dr. Feachem has no
right to threaten to reorganize arrangements between the fund
and South Africa without establishing what the facts are," Tsha-
balala-Msimang said (Reuters, 5/25). Tshabalala-Msimang has sent
a letter to Feachem saying that the National Treasury, which is
the principal national recipient of the grants, has disbursed
all of the money it has received from the fund, according to
SAPA/Independent Online. Soul City, loveLife and various other
organizations in KwaZulu-Natal that were designated to receive
the initial installment of the first round Global Fund grant all
received the money earlier this year, the SAPA/Independent
Online reports. The health department last month took steps to
secure the second installment of the first round grant for the
same groups, according to the SAPA/Independent Online. The South
African National AIDS Council, which coordinates applications
for fund money, had conducted site visits at loveLife and re-
quested additional financial information from the organization,
according to the SAPA/Independent Online. "It appears that the
processes relating to the loveLife project have given rise to
Dr. Feacham's allegations of delays and cumbersome procedures,"
the statement said, adding, "However, it is our contention that
delays have been minimal and are fully justified in terms of re-
sponsible administration" (SAPA/Independent Online, 5/25). In
addition to money from the Global Fund, loveLife receives sup-
port from the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Anglo American, and
the South African government (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report,
4/7).

Dispute History

The Global Fund and the South African government in the past
have disagreed on funding for antiretroviral drug therapy and
whether it should go directly to programs rather than being
routed through the central government, according to Reuters
(Reuters, 5/25). The two groups in April 2003 twice failed to
sign a grant agreement because of technical details, including
which government department would be responsible for the grant
money (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 8/7/03). South African
health officials on Tuesday said they were fulfilling the Global
Fund's terms by allocating all received funds to recipient
groups and nongovernmental organizations. "To date there is not
a single set of the Global Fund money sitting in the National
Treasury," Nono Simelela, head of the health ministry's AIDS
programs, said. Although Simelela said that the government would
follow the Global Fund's requirements for reviewing HIV/AIDS
projects, it also would insist that the fund's money not byp!
  ass the central government, according to Reuters. "There is no
problem with funding NGOs as long as NGOs are doing work that is
aligned with policies of government," Simelela said (Reuters,
5/25).

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