Former grant recipients and AID staffers have raised charges of reverse racism – making headlines in South Africa. AID officials say they’re only following U.S. laws that require a percentage of AID contracts to be earmarked for minority-led groups. AID’s critics retort that the problem isn’t the laws but the way AID interprets them. Paul Neifert, a former AID official who spent nearly three years in the agency’s Pretoria office, recalls a 1992 meeting at which a senior official discussed AID’s ““new Afro-centric direction.’’ Senior AID officials deny any impropriety and point out that investigations this year turned up no evidence of bias.
But Rep. Daniel Burton, the Republican who will probably chair the House subcommittee on Africa, plans to take a closer look at AID practices. ““It’s so far very evident that money is being used for black groups,’’ he says. ““We will be looking at whether AID is discriminating or not.’’ If the agency is found guilty, he warns, assistance to South Africa could fall under the congressional cleaver.
