Starving Cuba med students: Parents told to send groceries via SANDF

Instead of increasing the stipend of SA students studying medicine in Cuba to match the country’s standard of living, government has “bizarrely” opted to fly groceries and toiletries to them.

Their monthly stipend has remained at $200 (about R3 000) since 1994, but the cost of living has not remained the same, especially after the recent economic reforms in the country which saw their dual currency being consolidated and an increase in the cost of basic necessities.

According to an internal health department communique, which The Citizen has seen, parents of the 592 medicine students have until Wednesday to drop off bags of groceries and toiletries, up to a maximum weight of 23kg each, to be flown to Cuba.

Last month The Citizen reported how the SA students had sent a distress call to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize about their plight, including lack of food, appalling living conditions and inadequate stipends that have left them living in squalor.

Also read: PICS: South African students in Cuba struggling to survive

The students have shared pictures of what they have been forced to eat – including rice and pork soup, boiled eggs and rolls – on social media, with the situation said to be so dire that women could not afford sanitary pads.

In an e-mail sent last week to provincial co-coordinators of the Nelson Mandela-Fidel Castro Collaboration Programme, national co-ordinator Nkosinathi Mjoli said there is a scheduled flight to Cuba at the end of this month.

“In view of the above, we request parents who can be able to purchase these items to do so immediately,” he says in the e-mail.

‘Our parents can’t afford food for themselves’

Students who spoke to The Citizen said they were told last Thursday about this arrangement, but many said they are from poor families who could not afford anything for themselves back home, much less bags of groceries to be sent to them.

“Most parents cannot afford to even buy little stuff for their children…what is confusing me is that, the programme is for students who did well in matric but do not afford to pay fees. We are from disadvantaged background and poor families, yet the treatment we receive is as though we are from rich families,” said a student from Mpumalanga.

She said studying in Cuba has become a real pain and that government was being unreasonable and not at all thoughtful, which has led to some students sinking into depression.

“Right now and we are continuing studying under so much pressure, some students are really depressed because of this situation,” the student said.

Not the department’s first grocery run

The students have not been home for four years and the department first sent them groceries last August.

According to Democratic Alliance MP Haseena Ismail, their information was that an South African Airways flight has now been chartered by the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) to fly a group of its delegates to Cuba. The flight’s excess cargo space will be used to carry the cargo to the students.

SANDF spokesman Sphiwe Dlamini is yet to respond to questions but Darren Olivier, African Defence Review (ADR) director, said it was not necessarily irregular to have ostensibly “civilian” cargo taken on SAAF flights, depending on the circumstances.

He said the Air Force has flown cargo on behalf of humanitarian organisation Gift of the Givers and other charities in the past, with authorisation from the mission of the department of international relations and cooperation (Dirco).

“For a flight that is already scheduled, the Air Force has in the past been willing to accommodate the inclusion of light postal cargo from other government departments, within reason, and provided it did not substantively affect the cost of the flight or compromise the mission,” Olivier said.

“These are handled via the Air Force postal service, which delivers post to and from deployed service members using spare capacity on already-scheduled flights.”

He however said, as appears to be the case, this was arranged entirely outside the regular process and not formally authorised by an official government department like Dirco.

“…then it is definitely against regulations and needs to be investigated further,” Olivier added.

Health department spokesman Popo Maja could not be reached for comment. siphom@citizen.co.za

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