Cape Town - The Democratic Alliance says it is dismayed by information presented to Parliament's international relations portfolio committee showing South Africa has provided millions to "rogue" African states.
The information provided by international relations and co-operation department director of Nepad, Harvey Short, showed more than R770m of South African state funds had been used to prop up rogue states, and countries that had a history of human rights abuses or non-democratically elected governments, over the course of the past three years, and under the auspices of the African Renaissance Fund (ARF).
DA spokesperson Kenneth Mubu said on Thursday a total of R600m in economic assistance had been provided to Zimbabwe's government under the ARF, even though the committee heard that South Africa did not track how the funding was spent.
A total of R300m was transferred in 2009 as part of an economic recovery programme, a portion of it in the form of emergency food aid.
However, during Wednesday's committee meeting, when he asked whether the department had monitored and evaluated how the funds had been used, the response was that they had not.
"Parliament has seen no evidence that any of this money was spent on those programmes to which it had been designated," Mubu said.
The documentation provided "admits" government did not have a proactive planning mechanism, nor were monitoring and evaluation in place.
Coup junta
A total of R172m had been handed over to Guinea Conakry, beginning in 2008, the same year in which the country underwent a military coup that saw a military junta led by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara.
"Disturbingly, the ARF continued to fund two more projects in Guinea in 2009 while it was under the rule of Camara, only suspending a third due to political instability," he said.
In that same year the junta declared demonstrations illegal a day before a planned public demonstration in its capital city of Conakry.
However, according to media reports at the time, thousands of demonstrators defied this ban and assembled in a soccer stadium.
The junta ordered its soldiers to respond, and 157 people were left dead in the ensuing violence.
"Again, officials indicated they have no way of knowing where this money was spent, and how much of it, if any, actually went towards the causes earmarked."
The ARF had, since 2004, allocated over R1.2bn to fund projects in over 17 African countries.
