The United States Department of State confirmed to National Public Radio (NPR) this week that it “will cut HIV/AIDS funding for South Africa, over South Africa’s alleged failure to make progress on policy requests by the Trump administration. The State Department singled out what it called the South African government’s prejudice against white South Africans,” the radio station reported.
The U.S. is using the withholding of medicine and treatment of people infected with HIV/AIDS, as a weapon to punish them for not toeing the U.S. line. According to Statistics South Africa, South Africa had around 8.15 million people living with the virus in 2025, about one-eighth of its population, the highest levels in the world. To deliberately deny a population medicines and treatment, is below the standard of civilization.
One of the prime reasons for the U.S. policy toward South Africa is South Africa’s stepping forward against Israeli genocide. Most especially, on December 29, 2023, the South African government of President Cyril Ramaphosa brought an application before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which states that Israel was violating its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention regarding Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and documented multiple cases of witting Israeli genocide. On February 5, 2025, less than a month into his second term in office, President Trump released a policy action paper, “Addressing Egregious Actions of The Republic of South Africa,” which accused South Africa of being anti-American. It stated, “South Africa has taken aggressive positions towards the United States and its allies, including accusing Israel, not Hamas, of genocide in the International Court of Justice.” There were other manufactured charges, such as that South Africa is anti-White.
