Foreign aid was harmful to Africa and non-governmental organisations were "professional beggars", the SA National NGO Coalition (Sangoco) conference was told on Tuesday. Professor Shadrack Ghutto of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand said the structural adjustment programmes (SAPs) attached to foreign aid, and other forms of "conditional aid" to Africa had several harmful consequences. Trade and investment deals had been "secrets known only to leaders", and this culture of secrecy had widened the gap between governments and their peoples.