Trump's aid cut a wake-up call for SA, says Cyril

The US' decision to cut aid funding to South Africa is a "wake-up call" for the country to develop its own capabilities, President Cyril Ramaphosa said.

- Faizel Patel & Eric Mthobeli Naki

Ramaphosa was speaking on the sidelines of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa's ninth national congress, in Boksburg yesterday.

Since taking office in January, US President Donald Trump has cut funding to several countries, including South Africa, creating a funding gap for health organisations across the country.

South Africa received about $448.5 million (about R8.5 billion) from the US for health programmes, especially those supporting the fight against Aids.

The government has had discussions about the funding cut from the US, Ramaphosa said.

"It is entirely within their own right. It is their own money. In many ways, it's a wake-up call on our part as South Africans that we've got to find ways of being self-reliant; of relying on our own resources - and that is what our people expect, even within our fiscal constraints and challenges."