The Tusano program was originally intended to focus on maintaining and repairing the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) fleet of operational vehicles, but it also included costly additional agreements such as training soldiers in Cuba as medics and mechanical engineers. Changed to include. Photo: Rajesh Jantilal/AFP/Getty Images
The Department of Defense is still reviewing the bilateral agreement between South Africa and Cuba, Project Tusano, and all related subcontracts, the Office of the Auditor General told Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa) on Tuesday. I made it.
The controversial and expensive project, which started in 2012, was supposed to last just five years. To date, the cost to taxpayers has exceeded R2.6 billion.
The Tusano program was originally intended to focus on maintaining and repairing the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) fleet of operational vehicles, but it also included costly additional agreements such as training soldiers in Cuba as medics and mechanical engineers. Changed to include.
Mbali Tsotetsi, representing the Auditor General, told Scopa that AGSA has recommended that the Minister of Defense review all agreements, which is currently being implemented.
In April 2023, in a written response to questions from the Inkatha Freedom Party, then-defence minister Thandi Modise said he had “given instructions to review the Tusano plan.”
Mr Tsotetsi made the remarks on Tuesday in response to a question from Scopa president Songeso Zibi.
Leader Rise Mzansi said the Auditor-General would look at the bilateral agreement and ask whether South Africa was able to “reap the benefits that Cuba would do for South Africa, or whether it was just sourcing directly abroad”. I asked if it was confirmed. “Framework of the Public Finance Management Act.''
Tsotetsi said the AG had confirmed the agreement, which stated that “the two countries will cooperate on defense issues, but it does not specify in what way they will cooperate.”
The supplemental agreement was more detailed, she said. “So what we looked at is that the Department of Defense has said it will acquire services, so in a sense it is following an acquisition process, and some of those services include military vehicle repair, training, etc. Masu” [of medical professionals and so forth]”
The Pentagon should have followed the procurement process or, in the absence of a “normal procurement process,” obtained deviations that would justify why the services were procured from Cuba, the audit said. That was the Chief's opinion.
If no deviations were sought from the Treasury, it was concluded that the costs incurred were irregular expenditures, she said.
Bilateral and supplementary agreements need to be reviewed to benefit not only Cuba but also the Department of Defense, and that is happening, she said.
Mr Tsotetsi was joined by his colleague Eduardo Coetzee, who said the auditor general had failed to ensure that “appropriate procurement contract management processes were followed at the inception of the contract” between the two countries.
To date, 108 National Defense personnel have been sent to Cuba to study three medical professions, Coetzee said.
The Auditor General previously reported that the Department of Defense paid 136% more to medical students studying in Cuba than South African higher education institutions (R2.7 million versus R1.1 million).
Coetzee said that of the first 21 medical students sent to train in Cuba, only six returned to South Africa and successfully completed an 18-month integration course at the University of Pretoria. .
Psychology students, on the other hand, were unable to obtain the further qualifications they needed to practice professionally and were instead relegated to administrative positions.
In the field of biomedical engineering, graduates found that Cuban qualifications were not recognized by South African accreditation bodies. The South African Engineering Council and the South African Qualifications Authority do not recognize the Cuban curriculum, leaving students unable to register and practice in their fields.
“The effect of this is that there will be additional expenditure compared to those cases.” [students] They were trained in South Africa,” Coetzee said.
He said the root cause of the failure was poor planning and execution by the Department of Defense, which failed to ensure that the Cuban curriculum met South African accreditation standards before enrolling students.
The program also lacked a clear career development strategy for returning students, Coetzee added.
Without a systematic plan to integrate trained professionals into the workforce, many graduates were left underutilized and their skills wasted.
The problem is compounded by a lack of alignment with national health priorities, with key health positions remaining unfilled despite significant investments in training.
According to Coetzee and Tsotsetsi's presentation, the Department of Defense should align future programs with South Africa's accreditation requirements and medical priorities.
Key recommendations included working with the Ministry of Health to ensure all training programs meet national statutory and accreditation standards.
Local training institutions should also be prioritized to reduce costs and ensure qualifications that are directly applicable to the South African context.
Systematic career development pathways need to be created to make the most of trained professionals and address serious healthcare shortages.
In October, the Auditor-General told Scopa that the Department of Defence, which had a qualified audit in 2023-2024, had made R14.39 billion in fraudulent expenditures over the past five years, which was more than any government department in 2020. He said this was by far the largest number among all. Same period.
