DOCUMENTS

“The wages we earned almost made us modern slaves"

A Cuban expatriate in SA explains to Solidarity's Mia Slabbert how the system works

EXCLUSIVE

#OpReisSaamMetMia speaks EXCLUSIVELY with a Cuban-national who has been working in South Africa for several years due to an initial agreement between the two countries.

“The wages we earned almost made us modern slaves. I have a suspicion that the same is about to happen to the latest 24 engineers.”

Cuba and South Africa’s relationship has been in the spotlight recently. For two countries that had an extremely strained relationship during the apartheid era, their relationship nowadays is quite rosy and filled with benefits.

According to *Sam, a reliable source whose identity is withheld for security reasons and because of legal advice, Cuba bought the ANC’s proverbial soul when the Tripartite Peace Accord was signed in New York on 22 December of that year.

“What happened to our group and the groups after us, can be described as modern-day slavery. South Africa’s taxpayers are the ones paying for our services, yet Cuba is the country that gains wealth through all these agreements. Cuba bought the ANC’s soul in 1988 and therefore they can do what they are doing. We were all treated very badly,” *Sam exclusively told #ORSMM.

According to *Sam, the ANC is still repaying “political debt” to Cuba, at the expense of South African taxpayers. “When I arrived in South Africa, for example, I had no idea what a tender was. For the first three years of my contract in South African I did not do anything. I was paid, but I did not do anything because I was busy learning how things are done in South

believe in the case of the doctors sent to South Africa they do not really know how to approach

South Africa’s health strategy.”

How did your payment apparently make you “modern slaves”?

“The wages we earned under this treaty basically made us modern slaves. We already signed an unfair agreement in Havana that accepted an allowance of 500 American dollar per month. We had no choice because our salaries in Cuba were much lower. However, in the abovementioned agreement it was stated that we would receive only 50% of the full allowance in South Africa, and the balance would be withheld. One quarter of it was released by the Cuban government when we arrived in Cuba for our annual holiday.

The last part of the retention was only released at the end of the agreement. It was a tool used by the government to prevent placed workers from leaving their country, but also to recover costs from us as a disciplinary mechanism should we not comply with the strict rules imposed.

Of the 500 US dollars we earned in South Africa, we only received 250 per month, which at that time was approximately R2 500. This practice was completely illegal, as our salaries were below the minimum wage of South African labour legislation. However, the South African and Cuban governments were not concerned with this.

The only reason we survived was because of the conditions Cuban government set for South Africa, which required that they, in addition to our salaries, had to provide accommodation, transport, annual return flights to Cuba, as well as flights for family responsibility leave and the final shipping costs of limited cargo back to Cuba.

The South African government however, paid the full local salary connected to the various professional jobs. At that time, we were paid approximately R22 000 of which we could only keep 11% of the salary as an allowance (R2 500) and had to pay the balance within the first 5 days of the month to an account held by the Cuban embassy.”

“The Cuban engineers won’t be able to work”

*Sam believes that from a professional point of view, it is clear that the 24 engineers will not be permitted to work legally in South Africa because they are not registered with South Africa’s professional council (the Engineering Council of South Africa – ECSA) as required.

“The Cuban government considers the professional registration of its citizens in other countries as a threat and a problem because it creates the possibility for its citizens to stay in another country permanently and not return to Cuba. Thus, contrary to what Minister Lindiwe Sisulu claims, a Cuban engineer who is not registered with ECSA can only work under the supervision of a registered professional engineer, whether employed by the government or a private

company. However, many municipalities do not employ any professionally registered

engineers who will be able to exercise the required oversight over deployed Cuban engineers.

“When I heard Minister Sisulu say that the Cuban engineers will only be paid an allowance, I was shocked because that is probably only half the truth. It is true that they receive an allowance, but she neglected to mention that the balance of the engineers’ salaries earned in South Africa goes to the Cuban government. That is how it was with us, so I just cannot imagine it would all of a sudden be any different now.”

According to you, what makes this situation so unethical?

“I personally think that the appointment of professionals from Cuba in terms of this agreement is very expensive for South Africa because South Africa pays the salaries in addition to providing accommodation, daily transport, annual flight tickets, and finally, shipping costs. It is very important to emphasise that the appointment of Cubans in terms of this agreement between South Africa and Cuba is also totally unproductive.”

According to *Sam, the reality is that they as Cubans come from a totally different system, with different contractual terms and no knowledge of tender processes. They also come from a place without a free market system where the government basically manages the whole economy. “Then one does not even talk about the challenges regarding language. Just when the Cubans finally start to understand how things work in South Africa and begin to find their feet, their contract periods expire and they have to return home. In my opinion, this silent agreement between South Africa and Cuba is merely a repayment for numerous political favours that have been shown in the past.”

Solidarity reveals more shocking information

Solidarity’s information indicates that the Cuban engineers do have employment contracts and are paid up to R300 000 per year more than South African engineers. Part of their remuneration is extensive fringe benefits that include flight tickets for holidays in Cuba, furnished accommodation, food and telephone costs.

Solidarity also disclosed the Cubans’ contracts, which show that they will indeed do engineering work and not merely act as mentors as the Minister said. Solidarity also has proof that the Cuban engineers definitely do not meet the South African requirements for registration and licensing, and that the taxpayer will probably pay around R75 million for the project and not R64 million as has been stated.

This followed after Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu publicly stated on several occasions that the Cuban engineers are not employees and that they will not receive a salary. Solidarity believes it now has sufficient information to continue with its review application to have the Minister’s decision be declared invalid.

“There is now no doubt that the Cuban engineers actually have taken the jobs of South African engineers and are paid more for the work, and that taxpayers will have to pay more than was initially stated,” said Solidarity Chief Executive Dr Dirk Hermann.

“Similar projects have been driven by the Department and Cuba for more than 19 years, and in the meantime, we just see our water infrastructure deteriorating even further. In addition, the pandemic only worsened the unemployment crisis in South Africa. It is a shame that our government is failing our own workers this way. The Department is arrogant and insulting towards our own workforce. They would rather deceive and try to hide information than help South Africans. We must fight this irrational and illegal decision in the strongest possible way.”

Issued by Solidarity, 14 June 2021