At what point do we stop calling Theresa May's approach aid and start calling it profiteering under a different guise? The next time a British PM pays us a visit, we should demand a more frank conversation about the real role played by private British interests in South Africa. Perhaps we should ask them to pay back the money too.

Last week Theresa May visited South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, kicking off her stay in South Africa with a speech in Cape Town on the new strategy for UK aid. For the UK, it was a significant announcement that May will maintain the aid commitment at 0.7% of Gross National Income but will repurpose it towards British (corporate) interests, aligning it with May's free-market ideology. While many have welcomed Britain's apparent re-engagement with South Africa on these terms, May's message should be met with scepticism. The proposed shift towards British private sector interests is not the panacea she promises it to be.

May was blunt: "I am unashamed about the need to ensure that our aid programme...