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department said on Tuesday.
Cutting developmental aid would have far-reaching implications on projects currently running in South Africa, spokesperson Clayson Monyela said.

“This is tantamount to re-defining our relationship. Ordinarily the UK government should have informed the South African government through official diplomatic channels of their intentions,” he said.

Monyela said consultation on the modalities of the aid cut would have led to an agreement between the two countries.

“We have an SA-UK bilateral forum which is scheduled this year and the review of the SA-UK strategy, which includes the ODA (Official Development Aid) would take place there. Decisions about how to move forward were expected to be discussed in that forum,” he said.

“This unilateral announcement will affect our bilateral relations.”
The UK’s Foreign Secretary William Hague sought to calm the row saying this announcement “should not have been a surprise”.

Hague added that Britain had discussed the matter with South Africa for “months”, suggesting that “bureaucratic confusion” might explain why the country’s foreign ministry had voiced surprise over a “unilateral” move.

Justine Greening, the International Development Secretary, announced on Tuesday at a conference of African ministers and business leaders in London that Britain would phase out bilateral aid to South Africa by 2015, adding that her “counterparts” were in agreement.

She laid out her reasons:
“South Africa has made enormous progress over the past two decades, to the extent that it is now the region’s economic powerhouse and Britain’s biggest trading partner in Africa,” she said. “I have agreed with my South African counterparts that South Africa is now in a position to fund its own development.”

Britain is understood to have discussed this with South Africa’s finance ministry. However, this may not have been communicated to the foreign ministry.

Hague explained: “Discussions have been going on about that for some months, it therefore shouldn’t have been a surprise. No doubt there is some confusion or bureaucratic confusion about that perhaps, on the South African side, but I’m not going to fling accusations about that.”

Mr Hague told the BBC that British ministers would soon meet their South African counterparts at an “annual bilateral forum”, adding: “If there’s any confusion about this, I’m sure we will clear that up then.” — telegraph.co.uk/Sapa.