13 JANUARY 2026, CAPE TOWN
STRIDES AND SETBACKS IN HIV/AIDS TREATMENT: DEFENDING FRONTLINE WORKERS, VULNERABLE HOUSEHOLDS AND COMMUNITIES, AND THE SOCIAL WAGE
HONOURABLE MEMBERS
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
FELLOW SOUTH AFRICANS WATCHING AT HOME
GREETINGS TO YOU ALL!
HOUSE CHAIRPERSON,
I rise before this August House as a Vanguardist of young members of key populations whose access to life-saving HIV/AIDS and TB treatment was turned into a question mark when PEPFAR funding was withdrawn.
I also rise before this August House to remind its Honourable Members that there is no meaning in youth empowerment rhetoric if young people’s lives remain at risk of HIV/AIDS and TB infections.
For the downtrodden young people in South Africa who carry the weight of high levels of unemployment, HIV/AIDS and TB are neither historical issues nor legacy problems that belong to the past. Rather, HIV/AIDS and TB are a lived reality. They are present in our townships, in our campuses, in our workplaces, and in our homes. And when funding for HIV/AIDS and TB treatment is abruptly withdrawn, it is young people, especially young African women, who feel the consequences first and most severely. This Special Appropriation Bill therefore speaks directly to the youth that carries the future of this country on its shoulders.
HONOURABLE MEMBERS,
Data-crunching and cutting-edge research data indicates that HIV/AIDS and TB incidences remain stubbornly high among young members of key populations, particularly adolescent girls and young women from poor and working-class backgrounds. Prevention programmes, community outreach, testing campaigns, and peer education are not optional add-ons. They are the frontline of the struggle against HIV/AIDS epidemic and TB infections among people living with HIV/AIDS. When funding for these programmes is abruptly cut, the damage is immediate: fewer young people test, fewer diagnoses are made, infections rise silently, and progress towards meeting the UNAIDS’ 95-95-95 HIV/AIDS testing, treatment, and viral suspension targets becomes impossible.
As the ANC Youth League, our understanding is that the abrupt withdrawal of PEPFAR funding by the Trump Administration was not only a deliberate political choice meant to turn life-saving aid into a tool of political pressure, but also an attack that denied young people access, opportunity, and dignity to quality HIV/AIDS and TB treatment. The ANC Youth League rejects the idea that young people’s access to quality HIV/AIDS and TB treatment should depend on the goodwill of hegemonic bullies like the United States of America (USA) or the suggestion that South Africa should abdicate its HIV/AIDS and TB response to the ideological preferences of USA administrations.
As the ANC Youth League, we firmly support this Bill because it conveys a strong message to young members of key populations that the ANC-led government will not abandon them when external donors retreat. This Bill affirms the principle that access to public health is not charity, but a constitutional right. It affirms that sovereignty is not just about international security concerned narrowly about securing borders, but also about human security which addresses and protects citizens from threats like diseases. Most importantly, it affirms that the ANC-led government is prepared to act decisively when young people’s lives are at risk.
This Bill is therefore not only a health intervention, but a generational intervention as well.
For the sake of clarity and brevity, this Bill protects young people employed as community health workers, peer educators, data capturers, and outreach workers, many of whom face chronic unemployment. It further stabilises HIV/AIDS and TB treatment services that young people, especially young members of key populations, rely on. And it strengthens the public health system that must carry this country into the future – the future that belongs to young people!
FELLOW SOUTH AFRICANS,
The ANC Youth League has always advocated for a developmental state that intervenes rather retreats when young people’s lives are threatened. This Bill is evidence of that intervention as it protects, intervenes, and refuses to abandon young people that matter to a capable, ethical, developmental state the ANC-led government wishes to build.
HONOURABLE CHAIRPERSON,
The National Development Plan (NDP) recognises that health is foundational to social cohesion and economic participation. The ANC Manifesto commits to universal access to quality healthcare. The Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP) prioritises service delivery, especially among the youth. This Bill gives practical meaning to these commitments.
Parties that argue that this Bill is a story of ‘too little, too late’, much less adequate to offset HIV/AIDS and TB treatment funding gap, are effectively saying young people’s lives are dispensable. We reject this logic completely. Our view as the ANCY Youth League is that fiscal consolidation exists to support development, not to obstruct it. Budgets must serve people, especially young people, not the other way around, Honourable Minister of Finance.
HONOURABLE CHAIRPERSON,
In conclusion, this Bill is a short-term fiscal intervention. Long-term intervention must be followed by sustainable funding in the health budget, stronger prevention strategies, and massive treatment rollout. Nevertheless, this Bill is the correct response at the correct moment – it adds to the 74 per cent of HIV/AIDS and TB response budget that is overwhelmingly funded by the ANC-led government. Further, this Bill is a shock absorber which prevents regression in the UNAIDS targets that would otherwise erase years of progress and require far greater resources to rebuild.
For the youth of South Africa, this Bill represents something simple, yet profound: reassurance that the ANC-led government sees you, values your life, and is prepared to act to protect your future rather than outsource it to external donors with nefarious political agendas of “regime change”.
For these reasons, the ANC and the ANC Youth League support this Special Appropriation Bill.
I thank you.