BL Premium reports that SA’s cash-strapped defence force has spent more than R1bn on Cuban service providers for the maintenance and repair of key equipment over the past seven years.

This was revealed in response to a parliamentary question posed by DA defence spokesperson Kobus Marais in which defence & military veterans minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula was asked for details about various agreements with Cuba. Marais said it was “inexplicably curious” that the ANC government had been outsourcing defence contracts to Cuban companies at the expense of local defence contractors even while the SA industry was caught up in a death spiral with job losses being an ever-present concern. The defence department has faced a series of devastating budget cuts and the funding gap has resulted in the decline of demand, making it difficult for defence companies to survive. State-owned arms manufacturer Denel is battling a liquidity crisis so dire that it is struggling to pay salaries. Its situation has made it difficult for small businesses in the sector. Marais commented that the R1bn was one of the many instances in which the government has been splurging scant taxpayer money on services that could be procured locally. Last month, human settlements, water & sanitation minister Lindiwe Sisulu welcomed 24 Cuban engineers brought in to improve the government’s efforts on water delivery and related services, for which R64m has been budgeted. Trade union Solidarity has called on Sisulu to make use of the persons on its list of 120 local engineers and it has since launched a court bid to stop the deployment of the Cubans.

Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lisa Steyn at BusinessLive (paywall access only)

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