Hon Deputy Speaker, the Portfolio Committee on Trade and Industry heard on 9 May what the Department had to say regarding this particular agreement. We deliberated upon it and there were strong arguments for and against - notwithstanding the support that Cuba gave South Africa over many, many years.
As was stated in the committee, South Africa has, if nothing else, at the very least a humanitarian obligation to assist a country that so readily came to our assistance, not only when we were isolated as it were, but also after our own people's democracy, when they came at government's request to assist us in the medical area and in the area of teaching, just to mention two, and received the same remuneration as any other doctor or teacher in the Public Service.
Now what does this amount to? What paltry sum are we talking about here? The agreement is divided into three facilities. Facility A consists of a R40 million grant for the purchase of seeds - seeds to feed the people there, to grow things!
Facility B of the agreement is a R100 million solidarity grant. And may I say that that caused such a furore! Solidarity! Yet you hear it all the time in the EU. They are talking about solidarity. They are not members of the ANC. [Interjections.]
Order! Order, please!
Then we had Facility C. Facility C consists of R210 million for credit lines, nogal, [yes, really] in two tranches of R70 million and R140 million. This is a loan, actually - we are not talking of a grant, but a loan, which is expected to be repaid to South Africa.
I do think, members of this honourable House, that we need to remember those who remembered us and supported us in our hour of need. That is why this House now sits today under the Constitution of South Africa. The ANC supports this. [Applause.]
There was no debate.
Question put: That the Agreement between the Government of the Republic of South Africa and the Government of the Republic of Cuba on Economic Assistance be approved.
Declarations of vote:
Hon House Chair, there are two important points of principle to be made here.
Firstly, a generous and charitable spirit is a praiseworthy quality for any nation, as it is for any person. It is right that South Africans should be known in the community of nations as a generous people who are willing to help where and when we can.
Secondly, when we have an opportunity to do so, we should always seek to lead other countries in democratic transition, respect for human rights, constitutionalism and freedom. When we can, we must leverage our influence and stand as an example to the world.
Now we must ask, given these principles, whether the solidarity grant and assistance package to Cuba we are considering today is appropriate. The short answer is, absolutely not. South Africa should not declare any solidarity with the Castro regime.
Cuban laws limit freedom of expression, association, assembly, movement and the press. [Interjections.]
Order! Order, please! Order!
Human Rights Watch has documented evidence of systematic human rights abuses in Cuba, including torture, arbitrary imprisonment and extrajudicial executions, yet today the ANC is proposing that this government declares its "solidarity" with the Castro regime by giving it R350 million over and above the R1,1 billion of bad Cuban debt that President Zuma wrote off last year.
This solidarity grant is unconditional. It contains not a single word about respecting human rights, moving towards a freer society or the release of political prisoners. [Interjections.] If the ANC wants to betray its history of standing up for liberty and democracy, it is free to do so, but this Parliament should not. [Interjections.]
Ironically, the solidarity grant is being financed from an African Renaissance Fund in the Department of International Relations. Why this fund is being used to support a country thousands of kilometres from Africa is one question. But the more important point is that this fund is being used to prop up a system of government whose ideas are completely opposed to the idea of an African Renaissance.
The Castro regime should be consigned to the pages of political history, interesting only for what it can teach us about how not to organise society. It is a modern absurdity on the fringe of global politics. We should not be supporting it.
If the ANC wants to support Ral Castro, then it should use Chancellor House money to do so. [Interjections.] The ANC should not make South Africa pay for its friendship with the Castro regime. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr Chairman, let me tell the House that R350 million of your money going to a government of tyrants is what is before you today. The reason for us to express solidarity with them is because they have inflicted injuries on their own people through economic policies that have failed because of tyranny! We cannot put that aside! We are not expressing solidarity with a people, but we are expressing solidarity with a regime which has placed those people in a position leading to the necessity for them to ask for solidarity! There are no references to human rights conditions. There are no references to the human rights dialogue.
The cost of this treaty is not only the R350 million. It is the opportunity cost of engagement with this country at the expense of not engaging with other countries with whom we could do business. It is a shift of policies, from what matters in business terms for the country, to what does not matter, except for political reasons.
If this is a political payback, the bill for this political payback should be sent to Luthuli House, not to the people of South Africa! [Applause.] What we want to say today by opposing this treaty, which the entire opposition opposed in committee, is to tell the Minister to get his hands out of our pockets when it comes to paying political bills. [Applause.]
We are also extremely concerned about the way this treaty has been phrased. It is really a non-recourse loan. There are provisions in this Bill that bypass the ordinary means of adjudicating disputes, and effectively the treaty says that if payment is not made, all that South Africa can do is to search for an amicable solution. I wish I could ... [Interjections.]
House Chair, on a point of order: I think the hon member here is debating the wrong matter. He is talking about a Bill before Parliament, and this is a protocol that we are dealing with, not a Bill.
Thank you very much. My colleague is correct. I referred to a Bill when it is a treaty. Thank you very much. But that doesn't detract from the fact that it is a horrendous treaty. It is just as horrendous as it would have been had it been a Bill.
The ordinary procedures in an international treaty to adjudicate disputes, which would enable us to recover the money if there were default have been bypassed by the provision I mentioned. I wish I could have the same type of provision when I borrow money from my bank, so that if I don't pay, all the bank can do is to come and have a friendly chat with me, and ask me to pay! This is not how South Africa should do business! [Laughter.] [Interjections.]
It might be a good cause, but it is not your money to give away! [Interjections.] It is the money of the people of South Africa, and they need that money for housing and hospitals. It is not yours to give! [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, the history of the Cuban people is intertwined with the history of the African people. [Applause.] We know very well today that while we are standing here claiming that we have the best Constitution in the world and that we have freedoms that are enjoyed by historically disadvantaged people, this would not have happened if it had not been for the Cuban people who took the battle of Cuito Cuanavale in 1988. [Interjections.] The very freedoms we are speaking about would not have come about if the Cuban sons and daughters hadn't participated in that war.
What is absolutely critical here is that there is a lot for us to learn from the people of Cuba. An example is the issue of disaster management. Hurricane Gustav, which lashed Cuba in 2008, was far worse than Hurricane Katrina in America. Hurricane Katrina killed 1 800 people in America. Although Hurricane Gustav in Cuba was worse, it didn't kill a single person. Why? [Applause.] It is because the Cuban system of disaster management is one of the most advanced in the world. That system was able to evacuate more than 250 000 people within two days, while America could not do that!
What is very important here is that we should value the ideas of the founding President of this country. When he was speaking to the Congressional Black Caucus of the Democrats in Washington, President Mandela once said that the morality of the South African people lay in the fact that they didn't abandon their friends in their hour of need, but supported them. [Applause.] The Cubans are our friends and we are going to support them.
When this democracy was still young, they provided us with free facilities to train our doctors and engineers. They helped our departments with technical services that we as a country did not have. What kind of people can abandon such friends? [Applause.]
I would like to say to you, the people of South Africa, that the people of Cuba are our people. That is why, when this country says we must build a better South Africa, a better Africa and a better world, it must not be just a slogan - we must make it a reality! So, the ANC is calling on everyone in this House to support this protocol. I thank you. [Applause.]
Agreement between the Government of the Republic of South Africa and the Government of the Republic of Cuba on Economic Assistance approved (Democratic Alliance and Inkatha Freedom Party dissenting).