The civil rights organisation AfriForum will on 17 March 2022 be in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to obtain an urgent court order that will prevent government to make a planned R50 million donation to Cuba. AfriForum will also later submit a review application to the court in which the organisation requests that the decision to donate the money to Cuba be reversed.

AfriForum’s legal argument that the donation should not be made, are based on the following points.

Firstly, the donation is in conflict with the African Renaissance and International Cooperation Fund (ARF), the basis on which the donation is made. This fund stipulates that there has to be a parliamentary overview of such a donation, which was not the case. The donation is also in breach of the Public Financial Management Act because it was not properly approved by National Treasury or the Minister of Finance. It is also an utter disgrace that Government borrows money from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international organisations but wants to donate that money (and some of the country’s other money) to Cuba. This whilst the country is in a miserable economic position. Therefore, it is simply unconstitutional to donate money to Cuba in the midst of a serious economic crisis that the public is suffering from.

Government’s planned donation is completely illegal because it violates several laws. It is good to see that government receives resistance from civil society, political parties, and individuals regarding this ridiculous intention. AfriForum therefore hopes to finally end this irrational and illegal donation in court,

says Reiner Duvenage, Campaign Officer for Strategy and Content at AfriForum.