The Citizen reports that the Free State province’s Cuban Technical Advisers programme, which has cost the taxpayer more than R80 million since its inception by then premier Ace Magashule more than four years ago, has apparently collapsed.
Only three of the 37 Cuban engineers still in the country. The engineers, whose qualifications were not recognised in SA, were brought in in May 2015 to improve service delivery. In response to a Democratic Alliance (DA) question in the provincial legislature , Free State MEC of public works, infrastructure and human settlements Motshidisi Koloi said that, so far, the engineers have cost taxpayers R54.7 million in salaries; R6.4 million for air tickets; R15 million for accommodation; R5 million for vehicles from the government garage; R245,000 for English and Sotho language lessons; R64,800 for driving lessons; R2.4 million for travelling and subsistence, as well as R510,000 for the “welcoming function”. The Cubans were sent to the province as part of a “bilateral agreement” between Cuba and the Free State department of human settlements. According to the DA’s Leona Kleynhans, the Cubans complaints about the lack of actual work for them, the incompetence in the municipalities and that they received only R8,000 of the R50,000 per month promised to them. Kleynhans said it appeared the lion’s share of their salaries were paid to the Cuban government and the four-year experiment could have amounted to money laundering to get money out of municipalities and into the coffers of a foreign government. It has also been alleged politicians and officials of the provincial government could also have benefited from “this ideologically motivated agreement”. Senne Bogatsu of the provincial department of human settlement said salaries were paid directly to the engineers and the department was “not aware of any money laundering activities”.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sipho Mabena at The Citizen
- Read too, Free State has spent R57m on sending medical students to Cuba, at The Citizen
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page