Cape Town - Minister Thandi Modise has come to the defence of Cuba as the preferred country of choice for the SANDF.
This happened when she was quizzed in writing in three sets of parliamentary questions by DA MP Kobus Marais, whose questions refer to 105 SANDF members who flew to Cuba for training in August 2021.
Marais asked if the minister found Cuban training the best and most cost-effective training available in light of given the budgetary constraints and similar training opportunities available in the UK, Sweden, US and BRICS countries.
In her response, Modise said with its medical expertise and their ongoing assistance to the Department of Health, Cuba was the obvious choice to train and qualify medical specialists.
She said the Cubans demonstrated their skills and knowledge in terms of the maintenance and repair of various technical capabilities.
“Cuba was the only country that has opened its training opportunities in bigger numbers to the SANDF and that could tailor make training programmes according to the SANDF’s unique training requirements which is the most cost-effective way to train and qualify large numbers of military personnel.”
“The training provided to the SANDF by Cuba is currently the best possible training intervention available based on the unique SANDF training requirements,” she said.
Modise revealed that the defence spent R359 million on training its members in Cuba since 2014, except in 2020 when training was suspended due to Covid-19.
The courses include air traffic control, aviation, mechanical engineering and engineering science, psychology, social work, pilot training and medical studies, among others.
The breakdowns of annual costs are as follows:
2014 – R15 838 547, 00
2015 – R24 485 149, 62
2016 – R15 967 981, 88
2017 – R83 477 610, 24
2018 – R73 625 956, 67
2019 – R72 697 854, 04
2020 – Training was suspended due to Covid-19, and
2021 – R73 074 191, 20.
A total of R136m was spent on flying the soldiers on SAA return flights since 2017.
Asked if any training was available in other countries, especially where the use of English is available on the training courses, Modise said SANDF continued to expose its members to various Foreign Learning Opportunities (FLOs) in many countries including in Africa, America, Asia and Europe where various languages are spoken.
“The purpose of utilising FLO has primarily been to enable the SANDF to adopt ’best practice’ approaches to military doctrine based on exposure of other defence forces’ practices, with the premise that those members identified for such exposure are well versed in SANDF doctrine.”
She also said the country’s soldiers did training in African countries such as Zambia, Uganda, the Americas and Asia, to mention a few.
Modise said all the countries she mentioned were considered to empower members of the SANDF through its bilateral-lateral military relationships with the international community.
“During 2019/2020 financial year, we had senior officers in the specified countries,” she said.
Asked about reasons t to send pilot trainees to Cuba when SANDF has a fleet of Gripen aircraft, which are of Swedish origin and the Hawk aircraft, which was of British origin, Modise said South African Air Force was facing shortages of reliable training aircraft and relied on FLOs to keep up with the demand to have trained and skilled workforce in the aviation sphere.
“The Cuban FLOs provide value-chain training in aviation such as pilots, aviation technicians, aviation engineers, air traffic controllers and aircraft preservation, including simulator developer and software developer programmes that South Africa and the SANDF are highly in need of.
“The Cuban pilot training is using the L 39 Albatross Fighter Jet, which is used in several countries as a versatile jet trainer for their fighter pilots.”
Asked if any alternatives for training other than the Cuban training opportunities were made available to the SANDF members, Modise said the defence force continues to expose its members to various FLOs in many countries.
“It is in the interest of the SANDF that its members are empowered in various militaries.”
Political Bureau