Opposing the United States in its vote to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel may prove to have some dire effects for South Africa, if threats made by US ambassador to the United Nations (UN), Nikki Haley are anything to go by.
The US provides hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to South Africa, through its USAID program which assists in fighting communicable diseases such as HIV/Aids and Tuberculosis, as well as assist in basic education.
According to the The UN Voting Practices Report, South Africa emerged as one of the countries most likely to vote against the US and, with President Donald Trump’s administration looking to donate only to countries that will give a return on its investments, this could see the funding completely cut.
In December last year, Haley promised that the US government would be “taking names” of the countries opposing it and, in a recent statement, said that they are seeking to donate only to those that “serve American interests”.
“The American people pay 22{1f0bb132e08ca1f8565add86e1f8740171c75f84ed80bad4a750114913f392ef} of the UN budget – more than the next three highest donor countries combined,” she said.
“In spite of this generosity, the rest of the UN voted with us only 31{1f0bb132e08ca1f8565add86e1f8740171c75f84ed80bad4a750114913f392ef} of the time, a lower rate than in 2016. That’s because we care more about being right than popular and are once again standing up for our interests and values.
“Either way, this is not an acceptable return on our investment. When we arrived at the UN last year, we said we would be taking names, and this list of voting records speaks for itself. President Trump wants to ensure that our foreign assistance dollars – the most generous in the world – always serve American interests, and we look forward to helping him see that the American people are no longer taken for granted.”
According to the report, countries most likely to vote with the US include Australia, France and the United Kingdom, while South Africa is among the likes of North Korea, Syria and Venezuela as countries likely to vote against.
