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The Democratic Alliance (DA) shall be writing to President Zuma today asking him to explain the motivation to cancel Cuba’s debt to South Africa in light of the massive opportunity costs such a cancellation represents for the people of South Africa. The true cost of President Zuma’s largesse adds up to much more than just the R1.4 billion the South African state will lose in the process. What President Zuma needs to explain is how the interests of either the South African people or the Cuban people are served by his action.

In the first case, the Zuma administration has foregone a large sum of money that could have been used for social upliftment for our own citizens, many of whom continue to live in poverty. Indeed, the Zuma administration should have made it clear that Cuba repay the outstanding debts, totalling R1.1 billion. This money could have been used for desperately needed service delivery in South Africa. R1.1 billion could have been utilized to:

• Build 19 000 new RDP homes;
• Connect 140 000 low cost homes to the electricity grid; or
• Provide 36 000 students with bursaries for a full year of studying at a top South African university.

In the second case, by bestowing this gift without attaching any conditions, President Zuma has lost the opportunity to project influence into that region. While the region may not be one of our strategic priorities, President Zuma could nevertheless have given it an impetus to reform and achieved the general good of encouraging democracy worldwide. We pride ourselves on our democratic and human rights values – and we should project these values when we interact with foreign countries. By providing the Cuban government with such an extensive financial injection, we are in effect indicating approval and legitimizing a nepotistic and anti-democratic regime.

Once again, the commitment to democracy, human rights and, closer to home, service delivery, seem mere platitudes when confronted with the obligations of old political loyalties and obligations. This investment in Cuban relations holds little potential returns and presents a lost opportunity to affect positive change in Cuba. The staggering financial implications and severe service delivery-related opportunity costs also seem to suggest that this was not a wise decision. The reality is that President Zuma had to choose between 19 000 new RDP homes for South Africans or to throw political support behind an anti-democratic Cuban regime. He chose the latter and needs to explain why.