by Devex / Jenny Lei Ravelo
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But more than five years since, the international aid community has yet to witness any development toward SADPA’s operationalization. The bill necessary for its realization has yet to pass parliament and has reportedly not even received Cabinet-level approval.
“Every time you speak to [the] government of South Africa, they will tell you that the establishment of SADPA and the passing of the bill is eminent, [but] it has been like this for the past five years,” Neissan Besharati, a senior researcher and lecturer at the University of Witwatersrand and program manager at the Johannesburg-based think tank South African Institute of International Affairs, told Devex.
The reasons for the delay are aplenty — a mix of institutional and political, according to a 2013 paper Besharati wrote exploring the challenges and potential of SADPA. The Department for International Relations and Cooperation, with help from other government entities, has continued working on the different frameworks that would guide the agency once established, but issues such as its financing and its ultimate function remain mired in debate to this day.
Available: https://www.devex.com/news/does-south-africa-deserve-its-emerging-donor-status-85610