Pretoria - Trade union Solidarity will be serving court papers on Human Settlement, Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu over her “importation” of Cuban engineers to help fix leaks and other water problems, including a spillage at the Vaal River.
On Tuesday, Solidarity said the legal process included the disclosure of information, an interdict to stop the deployment process of the Cuban engineers as well as an application for a review of the government’s decision taken by Sisulu.
The legal action comes after Sisulu did not meet a deadline to submit a proposal to defuse the dispute between the union and the government, Solidarity chief executive Dr Dirk Hermann said.
“We are disappointed in the minister. The government came with a request to come up with a proposal and twice we have postponed the deadline for such a proposal. Apart from the fact that the government did not meet the deadline, the minister also did not respond to critical/key legal questions posed by Solidarity,” said Hermann.
“Important information is still being withheld from the public. It should not be that difficult to obtain information about the use of tax money.”
Solidarity said that while it was proceeding with legal action, further talks should not be ruled out.
“Solidarity opens its legal action by starting a process dealing with the disclosure of information. We need to break the secrecy surrounding the arrival of the Cubans, what they are supposed to do, how the money would be spend and whether the Cuban engineers are registered,” said Hermann.
Solidarity has also brought an application for the deployment of the Cuban engineers to be stopped, pending the review application, in which the union will seek to have the government’s decision declared invalid.
“The decision to import Cubans while South African skills are available is not rational. Solidarity will also argue that it would be unlawful for Cubans to undertake and sign off on professional engineering projects as they do not comply with the South African registration and accreditation requirements,” said Hermann.
“If the Cubans are here merely to fulfil a mentorship role, and are paid R64 million for it, it would be the most expensive mentorship programme in South Africa’s history. If they are not registered with the Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) it also means that they would have to work under the supervision of South African engineers and would only be able to do basic work.”
Last month, Sisulu defended her decision to hire the 24 Cuban engineers, in response to criticism from political party ActionSA’s leader Herman Mashaba and lobby group AfriForum.
In her defence, Sisulu said the core objective of the agreement “is to second Cuban engineers in infrastructure maintenance and operation skills throughout the water value chain from source to tap, with the majority being seconded at water/river clusters and at municipalities to provide training and build capacity to SA candidate engineers and artisans in all the identified municipalities”.
African News Agency (ANA)