Dirco suffers another court blow over R50 million Cuba donation

The Constitutional Court has dismissed the Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s (Dirco) application for direct access to appeal the order by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, interdicting the government from donating money to Cuba through the African Renaissance and International Cooperation Fund (ARF)

Dirco issued a statement on Wednesday noting the court’s order dismissing its application.

In March, AfriForum obtained an interim basis interdict to stop Dirco from donating a reported R50 million to Cuba until a review application process later this year. AfriForum campaign officer for strategy and content Reiner Duvenage said the organisation was glad the court upheld the interdict.

“The government is proving so desperate to donate the much-needed funds to Cuba that it has also lodged leave to appeal applications at the Supreme Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court,” he added.

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“Dirco applied for direct access to the Constitutional Court to appeal the order while simultaneously petitioning the Supreme Court of Appeal for direct access. The decision of the latter is still awaited.

“In its order, the Constitutional Court did not pronounce itself on the merits of the case, as it was dealing with the application for direct access, which is a procedural matter,“ the statement read.

According to Dirco, the Constitutional Court made it clear in its order that it will not hear the matter at this stage of the process, with the result that the matter should first be ventilated and heard in a different court. 

“Any narrative or suggestions in the media that the order given by the Constitutional Court is a “victory” in the case are erroneous as the substantive matters relating to the review are still to be addressed in the High Court process, which is currently ongoing, and all legal routes remain available to the Government, including to appeal the matter in the Constitutional Court once the legal proceedings have taken their course.”

-Compiled by Siphumelele Khumalo and additional reporting by Marizka Coetzer