Sisulu defends the indefensible – Cubans over South Africans

21 April 2021

Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s pathetic defence of the indefensible decision to import Cuban engineers to assist with South African infrastructure challenges, should get her fired.

Sisulu’s defence, quoted in IOL, quoted an agreement where Cuban engineers would be brought in to oversee the work of South African candidate engineers and artisans in identified municipalities. In other words, nothing that could not have been done by South African engineers.

Sisulu in the process has demonstrated that Cubans come before South Africans in the affirmative action policies of the ANC.

South Africa has countless unemployed engineers who are sitting at home right now, without the dignity that comes from work. They studied at South African universities, which are financed by South African taxes, and they speak South African languages. Our engineers are sought after all over the world because of their experience and the quality of our engineering qualifications in South African universities.

Rather than A South African engineer, the work of overseeing these infrastructure problems has been outsourced to Cuban engineers who, presumably, do not speak English, come from inferior institutions of higher learning and a country whose infrastructure is falling apart.

Sisulu’s response to this issue is an insult to unemployed South Africans, and an affirmation to all South Africans that Cubans will get priority over South Africans under the ANC government.

The reality, made clearer from the Covid-19 pandemic, is that our government cannot provide for South Africans either in terms of creating economic opportunities or providing effective service delivery. South Africans must now endure insult to injury as we witness our government helping other countries while now being able to provide for South Africans.

The policy of spending hundreds of millions of Rands to benefit the Cuban government is a policy of the ANC arising from their historical relationships. Money intended for services to our own people and redirect them so that Cuban doctors and engineers can come to South Africa and take the work opportunities that should be taken by South African doctors and engineers.

The only cure to this problem is clearly the removal of the ANC from government, because when ANC policy is hurting unemployed South Africans, solutions can only arise from a new national government in 2024.

This is amongst the many reasons that ActionSA was formed because South Africans need a real alternative, capable of mounting a real challenge to the ANC in 2024.

Issued by Herman Mashaba, President, ActionSA, 21 April 2021