'Government Should Divulge More Information About Cubans Employed in SA'

• The official Opposition to the ruling party, the Democratic Alliance, is demanding that the government reveal the agreements it has with Cuba
• The DA made the demands in view of a total amount exceeding R1.4 billion which has reportedly been paid to Cuban citizens employed in South Africa
• The party said it wants an explanation about the full breakdown of payments made, including salaries, accommodation and travelling fees

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The Democratic Alliance have lambasted the government for spending over R1.4 billion on Cuban employees in South Africa since 2010.

This has seen the opposition demand that the government come clean on its agreements with the Cubans, according to a report by News24.

Elaborating on its demand for the release of information, the DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone said in a statement that the party will submit an application similar to the one for the release of an intelligence report on the recent unrest in the country.

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"The party will submit Promotion of Access to Information Act applications to various government departments to obtain the full details of employment agreements between the South African and Cuban governments," said Mazzone.

"R1.4 billion is a large amount of money, and there is very little detail [available] on these employment agreements," added Mazzone.

The party stressed that it wants an explanation about the full breakdown of payments to the Cuban workers. It said the breakdown should including salaries, accommodation as well as travelling fees, according to The Citizen.

The party, among other things, also said it wants to know whether payments are made directly to the workers or the Cuban government and whether the foreign government receives financial incentives from these agreements.

"The DA does not believe that these agreements are completely as straightforward as the government would like the public to believe," said Mazzone.

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"It simply makes no sense why the government would fork out billions of rand to pay for the skills and services from Cuba when there are unemployed and qualified workers across South Africa in all the identified fields desperate for employment."

Government should release intelligence report on violent unrest

In recent news, Briefly News reported that the DA is demanding for the government to release a state security intelligence report following the recent unrest in parts of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

The leader of the opposition and the party's federal leader John Steenhuisen said an application will be filed in terms of the Promotion of Access to Information Act to access the report, according to TimesLIVE.

“It is critical that South Africans know the who, when and what of this catastrophic failure of our security cluster to protect citizens and property.

"Who knew upfront about the looting and unrest? When did they know it, and what did they do about it?"

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Source: Briefly News