DA asks Labour Minister to investigate ‘slave labour’ of Ace’s Cuban engineers
07 January 2016
The cohort of Cuban engineers employed by Premier Ace Magashule continue to live in guesthouses across various municipalities while they have not taken up active duty since their arrival in May last year.
As such the salaries, travel and accommodation costs to fund Magashule’s Cuban employment scheme amounts to wasteful expenditure since not a stitch of work has been done.
Moreover, the DA has it on good authority from the Cuban employees that they were told to keep quiet and are not to complain. Some Cubans are showing signs of depression as a result of remaining idle. What is more shocking is that the Cubans have indicated to us that they only receive R8 000.00 per month of their salaries while the balance is allegedly paid to the Cuban Government. This amounts to Human trafficking (slave trade) by the Cuban Government in collusion with the Free State Provincial Government. The DA believes that this is contrary to South African Labour legislation and is in fact criminal.
The total cost to the public purse for employing these 45 Cubans in the Free State over a period of three years is estimated to be almost R110 million.