The Ministry of Health has not officially informed the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria that its grant allocated to KwaZulu-Natal is welcome and accepted, thereby further delaying the province’s receipt of the grant.
The fund does not acknowledge press releases as confirmation that Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is not blocking the R600-million grant, but says it is awaiting official confirmation from the ministry before any funds will be forwarded.
The fund is an international independent body, established last year on the initiative of United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan.
It is a partnership between countries and is not meant to replace existing initiatives or other funding channels with the same or similar objectives.
The grant was clouded by controversy after it became apparent at the recent world Aids conference in Barcelona that the minister might not accept the money because the correct procedures had not been followed by KwaZulu-Natal, which had directly applied for the grant. This caused an outcry from political and religious organisations, which called for the minister’s resignation.
The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) threatened to bring an urgent court application to stop the government from blocking the grant.
On Tuesday July 16, after a meeting, Tshabalala-Msimang and KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Health Zweli Mkhize announced the grant would be accepted and pooled with other resources of the South African National Aids Council (Sanac). It was also reported that Tshabalala-Msimang said the fund was trying to bypass the democratically elected government and put the money in the hands of civil authorities.
“Perhaps this is because the fund does not trust governments elected by the people,” the minister said.
Melanie Zipperer, spokesperson for the fund, says it does not comment on political statements such as these.
“Before we disperse the funds we have to know who will be the principal recipient. Right now it is all still speculation,” says Zipperer. She says a press release has been received but it is not considered an official response.
The fund’s website says it hopes to quickly disburse resources to all proposals approved in the first round, based on a country-led and nationally coordinated process. Each country-coordinating mechanism has to propose one or more principal recipients to serve as the legal entity, which receives and manages money from the fund.
“When the principal recipient is communicated to the fund, it intends to move expeditiously, while ensuring there are effective accounting systems in place for managing money within countries.” Two grants have been awarded to South Africa, but a principal recipient still needs to be officially communicated.
This week a source close to the ministry said pressure from countries in Southern African had caused Tshabalala-Msimang to make a fuss about KwaZulu-Natal “bypassing” procedures in applying for the grant.
Sources say Tshabalala-Msimang is receiving flak from other Southern African nations because South Africa managed to secure two grants.
The first grant awarded South Africa R1,13-billion for proposals from loveLife and Soul City.
A second, separate proposal from the Enhancing Care Initiative in KwaZulu-Natal was awarded R720-million.
Tshabalala-Msimang this week raised concerns that countries like Botswana had not received any money.
Mark Heywood, spokesperson for the TAC, scoffs at the explanation, saying that the real reason the minister is opposing the grant is because it has a big anti-retroviral component.
“When the grant goes ahead it will be the beginning of the provision of anti-retroviral drugs to poor people in one of the worst-affected provinces.”
Heywood says that countries like Botswana are “drowning in money” from donors including the Bill Gates Foundation.
He says that the minister is taking equity to ludicrous extremes: “It is not a question of [the fund] having a money pot and then dishing it out equally among countries.”
KwaZulu-Natal, like any applicant, can ask the fund for a grant, and an independent board gives the go-ahead, says Heywood, adding that according to the fund’s report South Africa did not receive the highest funding.
Nathan Geffen of the TAC says the two largest grants went to Malawi and Thailand.
The Sanac proposal was the third-largest grant approved.
“This is just an excuse the minister has used to try to scuttle around the KwaZulu-Natal proposal, using it as a red herring based on incorrect facts. What lies at the root of what is going on is the agenda of Aids denialists,” says Geffen.
Meanwhile the health secretary of the African National Congress, Saadiq Kariem, has endorsed Tshabalala-Msimang’s call for the fund’s grants to be received by South Africa to be distributed equitably.
Mkhize, however, reiterated his point — made last week — that the province would not lose out on any money due to it.