U.S. cuts South Africa democracy funding in $5 billion foreign aid rescission 

Trump Administration said on Friday it would cancel $5 billion in foreign assistance programmes including South African democracy initiatives, invoking 1974 budget control law unused since the Nixon era to bypass congressional spending approvals.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the unilateral cuts targeting 14 programmes through a “pocket rescission” under the Impoundment Control Act.

The move halts $2.7 million for South African political inclusion projects and $4 million for global global Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) rights advocacy.

This marks the first application of the budgetary mechanism in five decades, allowing presidents to block congressionally appropriated funds if not yet spent.

The White House described the affected programmes as “misaligned with national priorities” in a late Friday announcement.

“These expenditures failed to meet America First objectives,” Rubio said in a statement, citing labour initiatives and multilateral organisation funding among terminated projects.

The cuts come eight months after Congress approved the $89 billion foreign operations budget.

The administration did not specify when funds for the canceled programmes were originally authorised.