Project Thusano was initially intended to focus on the maintenance and repair of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) operational vehicle fleet but has morphed to include expensive supplementary agreements such as training soldiers as medical practitioners and mechanical engineers in Cuba. Photo: Rajesh Jantilal/AFP/Getty Images
The department of defence is still reviewing South Africa’s bilateral agreement with Cuba, Project Thusano, and all sub-contracts associated with it, the office of the auditor general told parliament’s standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) on Tuesday.
Inked in 2012, the controversial and costly project was supposed to last for only five years. It has, to date, cost taxpayers more than R2.6 billion.
Project Thusano was initially intended to focus on the maintenance and repair of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) operational vehicle fleet but has morphed to include expensive supplementary agreements such as training soldiers as medical practitioners and mechanical engineers in Cuba.
Mbali Tsotetsi, representing the auditor general, told Scopa that the AGSA had recommended to the minister of defence that all the agreements be reviewed, and that was being done.
In a written response to a question from the Inkatha Freedom Party in April 2023, then defence minister Thandi Modise said she had “given instructions to review Project Thusano”.
Tsotetsi made the remarks on Tuesday in response to a question from Scopa chairperson Songezo Zibi.
The Rise Mzansi party leader had asked whether the auditor general had seen the bilateral agreement and been able to ascertain if South Africa was “able to reap the benefits of what the Cubans would do for South Africa, or was it just straight procurement, outside of the framework of the Public Finance Management Act”.
Tsotetsi said the AG had seen the agreement, which stated that “both countries will cooperate on the matters of defence, but does not specify in what manner”.
The supplementary agreements were more detailed, she said. “What we noted there, was that it follows procurement processes in a way, because it says the department of defence will acquire services, and part of those services include the repairs of the military vehicles, training [of medical professionals and so forth].”
It was the auditor general’s opinion that the defence department should have followed a procurement process or, in the absence of a “normal procurement process”, should have obtained a deviation that would justify why the services were procured from Cuba.
In the absence of a deviation being sought from the treasury, it was concluded that the expenses that were incurred would be irregular expenditure, she said.
There was a need to review the bilateral agreement and the supplementary agreements so that there was benefit to the defence department, not only Cuba, she said, and that was happening.
Tsotetsi was joined by colleague Eduard Coetzee, who said the auditor general had been unable to confirm that “appropriate procurement contract management processes were followed at the outset of the contract” between the countries.
To date, 108 defence members have been sent to Cuba to study in three medical professions, according to Coetzee.
The auditor general has previously reported that the defence department paid 136% more (R2.7 million versus R1.1 million) for a medicine student studying in Cuba compared with a South African tertiary institution.
Of the first cohort of 21 medical students sent for training in Cuba, only six successfully completed an 18-month integration course at the University of Pretoria upon their return to South Africa, Coetzee said.
Psychology students, meanwhile, failed to pursue further qualifications required to practise professionally, instead being relegated to administrative roles.
In biomedical engineering, graduates found their Cuban qualifications unrecognised by South African accreditation bodies. The Engineering Council of South Africa and the South African Qualifications Authority do not acknowledge the Cuban curriculum, leaving the students unable to register and practice in their fields.
“The impact of this is that additional spending is incurred compared to if those [students] were trained in South Africa,” said Coetzee.
The root cause of the failures stemmed from poor planning and execution by the defence department, which failed to ensure the Cuban curriculum met South African accreditation standards before enrolling students, he said.
The programme also lacked a clear career development strategy for returning students, Coetzee added.
Without a structured plan for integrating trained professionals into the workforce, many graduates had been left underused, their skills wasted.
The absence of alignment with domestic healthcare priorities further exacerbated the issue, leaving critical medical posts unfilled despite the heavy investment in training.
The defence department should align future programmes with South African accreditation requirements and healthcare priorities, according to Coetzee and Tsotetsi’s presentation.
Key recommendations included that there be collaboration with the department of health to guarantee that all training programmes meet domestic statutory and accreditation standards.
Local training institutions should also be prioritised to reduce costs and ensure qualifications are directly applicable to the South African context.
Structured career development pathways should be structured to maximise the use of trained professionals and address critical healthcare shortages.
In October, the auditor general told Scopa that the defence department — which received a qualified audit for 2023-24 — had incurred irregular expenditure of R14.39 billion over the past five years, the most, by far, of any government department over the same period of time.