Eswatini distances herself from Cuba labour export programmes
MBABANE – Eswatini has disassociated herself from having benefitted from the alleged Cuba ‘coercive’ labour export programmes.
Coercive labour is work a person does for another person (or for the State) under compulsion, receiving little or no recompense.
The US Embassy in Havana in July 2022, released a damning report on Trafficking in Persons (TIP), where Cuba was accused of having benefitted financially from coercive labour export programmes to 66 countries. First to deny having benefitted from the alleged ‘coercive’ labour export programmes was the Republic of South Africa. The denial was made by the republic’s Spokesperson for the Department of Health, Foster Mohale, when interviewed by Mail & Guardian.
Meanwhile, for the past 15 years, the Kingdom of Eswatini has been receiving Cuban doctors under the exchange programme.
In August 2020, the country received about 20 Cuban doctors to help in the fight against COVID-19.
They were received by the Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Health, Dr Simon Zwane and State Chief of Protocol Henry Zeeman. The ministry revealed that the doctors’ living expenses would be catered for by government and that they would receive a stipend, although the amount was not revealed.
It has since emerged in the TIP report that the Cuban Government continued to deploy workers to foreign countries using deceptive and coercive tactics and failed to address labour violations and trafficking crimes, despite an increasing number of allegations from credible NGOs, former participants and foreign governments of Cuban officials’involvement in abuses.
Report
The report found that the Cuban Government profited from labour export programmes, which showed ‘strong indications of forced labour’, particularly its foreign medical missions programme.
The report further states that in 2021, government profit estimates from labour export programmes ranged from US$6 billion to US$8 billion, of which 75 per cent was from its medical missions programme. The report claims that the Cuban Government misled participants by telling them the labour programmes were voluntary. However, according to the report, the passports, professional credentials and salaries of the workers were confiscated and their families threatened should they leave the programme.
In almost all accounts, workers received only a portion of their salary ranging from five to 25 per cent, and these funds were retained in Cuban bank accounts – often in Cuban pesos rather than the hard currency the government was paid for their services - which were relinquished if the participant left the programme.
“Their movement in foreign countries is allegedly limited and they are overseen by minders accompanying them,” reads part of the report.
As such, according to the report, Cuba remained on tier three of the watch list of the TIP rankings for the third consecutive year. This meant that Cuba did not meet the minimum standards for eradicating trafficking according to the United States Trafficking Victims Protection Act.
When reached for comment on the allegations of human trafficking regarding the exchange programme, the Minister of Health, Lizzie Nkosi, said; “We have had Cuban doctors in the country for over 15 years now.”
Nkosi stated that they were not paying anything to the Cuban Government. She said when the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, the country had already requested for more doctors to roll out the non-communicable disease (NCD) work particularly diabetes. Nkosi stated that the work was delayed and was currently being attended to together with Cuban doctors. She said the Cuban doctors were involved in other public work response.
Shifts
The minister added that the doctors did not even work night shifts, unless specialists among them were called for urgent work.
Responding to the human trafficking allegations by the report, Director of Health Services Dr Vusi Magagula stated that the important thing was that the doctors came to Eswatini and provided emaSwati with renowned expertise on such a critical field. Magagula was responding to the question on whether government paid something to the Cuban Government as per the allegation in the report.
He stated that remuneration was confidential between employer and employee.