SOUTH AFRICA CHARTS INSTITUTIONAL OVERHAUL FOR AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT WORK
A draft amendment bill now with legal advisors, following consultations with the National Treasury, proposes replacing the African Renaissance and International Co-operation Fund with a newly structured development agency. The Cabinet is expected to resubmit this legislation during the Seventh Administration, marking a deliberate shift in how South Africa exercises its development mandate across the continent.
The African Renaissance and International Co-operation Fund, known as the ARF, was established in 2000 under the African Renaissance and International Co-operation Fund Act as a Schedule 3A public entity operating within the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, or DIRCO. Since inception, the Minister of DIRCO and the Director-General have exercised control and direction over the fund. Over more than two decades, the ARF has served as South Africa’s primary instrument for advancing peace, stability and co-operation across Africa, funding election observation missions, conflict mediation efforts and humanitarian assistance. In 2026, the agency is expected to continue supporting election observation missions while prioritising humanitarian and mediation work in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The proposed transformation would rename the entity the South African Development Partnership Agency (SADPA) and fundamentally alter its governance structure. SADPA would remain a Schedule 3A entity but become a fully-fledged development agency with its own Chief Executive Officer. That change would create institutional separation between the agency and DIRCO, moving development functions away from the foreign relations ministry. SADPA would assume responsibility for managing all of South Africa’s development co-operation activities, consolidating functions currently dispersed across government.
These institutional changes have roots extending back nearly two decades. The African National Congress, at its 2007 Polokwane National Conference, passed a resolution calling for the creation of what would become SADPA, indicating that such an agency would strengthen South Africa’s pursuit of African development while enhancing South-South and South-North co-operation. Cabinet approved the introduction of the Amendment Bill to Parliament in 2023. The legislation was not finalised before the Sixth Administration ended, delaying the transition.
By contrast, the United Kingdom moved in the opposite direction in 2020, merging its Department for International Development with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and consolidating development assistance under diplomatic authority. The UK’s reasoning centred on aligning development assistance more closely with foreign policy objectives. South Africa’s approach would instead create greater distance between development work and diplomatic functions, raising questions about how that separation might shape SADPA’s independence and operational effectiveness.
Parliament has welcomed the proposed move and encouraged acceleration of the transition from ARF to SADPA. The department was asked to provide progress updates on the Draft Amendment Bill later in the year, though no formal timeline for the transition has been announced. Accountability for delivery will rest squarely with DIRCO and the incoming agency’s leadership.
The institutional rationale for SADPA rests on South Africa’s economic position within Africa. With a stronger economy than nearly all other African states, South Africa occupies a unique position to support continental development. African markets represent important growth opportunities for South African business, making stability and development across the continent directly aligned with South Africa’s economic interests. A strategically deployed development agency could serve as a mechanism for Africa to address its own challenges independently while creating conditions for broader economic growth.
Whether Parliament will press for a firm legislative deadline, and how the budget allocation question will be resolved, remains the central accountability test for the Seventh Administration.