The relationship between the Cuban government and the South African ANC-controlled government boils down to a bottomless dumping site for tax money. The ANC government makes decisions that benefit its political agenda and relationships, but that do not have the best interests of South Africa or its citizens at heart.
On 25 October 2023 AfriForum won a court case against the government, although the Department of International Relations and Cooperation had fought tooth and nail in an effort to continue with its R50 million donation to its Cuban friends. AfriForum did not stop there, however. On 18 October 2018 the civil rights organisation directed an application in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2002 (better known as a PAIA application) to the Department. In this application we demanded the Department to share information on all donations that had been made to Cuba over the previous 20 years. It was already known in 2016 that South Africa and Cube had signed more than 30 bilateral agreements that comprise large areas of cooperation, including education, science and technology, agriculture, health services, housing, and water and sanitation.
The Department has acknowledged in 2016 already that the cooperation between South Africa and Cuba is highest in the areas of health, human settlements and public works. Cooperation includes technical support on various terrains, including health, engineering and education. The South African-Cuban medical exchange programme was established in the early 1990s and is regarded as the most important proof of cooperation between these two countries. The agreement was entered into to address the serious shortage of healthcare practitioners in South Africa’s rural and underserviced urban areas. In the meantime, Cuban doctors in South Africa receive the little money that the health department has available for salaries, while South African doctors must be happy with the minimum.
