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USA GOVT’S ALLEGATIONS: ESWATINI CONTRIBUTES TO E88 BILLION CUBAN DOCTORS TRAFFICKING

15/09/2024 07:35:00 Mfanukhona Nkambule

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MBABANE – The USA Government says Cuba’s revenue from allegedly shipping doctors to countries like Eswatini stands at E88 billion.

The US classifies the deployment of Cuban doctors to the country as human trafficking. In its 2024 Trafficking in Persons Report on Eswatini and Cuba, the US Government alleged that the country (Eswatini) had 35 government-affiliated Cuban medical workers in 2023. USA said the Cuban nationals working on medical missions in Eswatini might have been forced to work by the Cuban Government. According to America, the Cuban government reported E88.2 billion, the equivalent of US$4.9 billion, in revenue from the export of medical services in 2022 (the last year for which data is currently available) out of a total of E102 billion in service exports.

Exported workforce

According to government, medical professionals comprise 75 per cent of its exported workforce. There were roughly 22 000 workers in more than 53 countries by the end of 2023, including the Kingdom of Eswatini, which has enjoyed a working relationship with Cuba spanning 15 years. The US Government alleged that, in its investigations, it found that the Cuban Government policy or pattern was to profit from forced labour export programme, which included foreign medical missions. The US Government said Havana (Cuba) continued to deploy government-affiliated Cuban workers to foreign countries using deceptive and coercive tactics.

Allegations

Khanya Mabuza, the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health, said he was aware of the allegations levelled against the country by USA. He said, at some point, Americans asked to see the agreement the country signed with Cuba. Mabuza said he was of no assistance to them because it was a State-to-State contract. The principal secretary said it was not a ministerial arrangement; hence, he was not in a position to show them the contracts. Asked how much in terms of salaries the Cuban doctors received from Eswatini, Mabuza was not sure about the rates, but pointed out that they received allowances, with a large chunk of their money kept in Cuba.

The Times SUNDAY reported about four years ago, that Cuban doctors received around E15 000 per month. He said the Cuban doctors were doing a fabulous job, and mentioned that he was not aware of any human trafficking element in their deployment to the country. Nompumelelo Lukhele, Head of the Secretariat for the Prevention of People Trafficking and People Smuggling, said the USA Government officials had never approached them for information.

Recommendations

Instead, Lukhele said they received the report, with conclusions and recommendations, from the US Government. Asked whether Cuban doctors were being exploited, the head of Secretariat stated that America has given them reports twice in a row. From their side, she said they perceived the Cuban doctors as contracted employees, whose terms and conditions of employment are with the Ministry of Health. She made it clear that any allegation, true or false, her department and the Task Force would look into the matter.

“In short, we are monitoring the situation closely,” she said. In the majority of cases, the US said it kept a significant amount of workers’ wages; confiscated workers’ passports and professional credentials; subjected workers to surveillance and strict curfews; and did not consistently inform participants of the terms of their contracts, which varied from country to country. America alleged that Cuba threatened, coerced and punished government-affiliated workers, including medical professionals and their family members if participants left the programme. Eswatini established formal bilateral with Cuba in 1995. The two countries signed the first Health Cooperation Agreement in 2005. On October 6, 2005, the first Cuban doctors and paramedics arrived in the Kingdom of Eswatini.

Consultations

According to the Government of Cuba, the medical brigade has carried out more than 50 000 consultations, and saved more than 2 500 lives in Eswatini. This was revealed by the Ambassador of Cuba to South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini, Rudolfo Benitez Verson in his article which he published in his government website. Havana said Cuban doctors are specialists in areas such as neonatology and oncology, in which national specialists have not yet been trained. Cuba stated that more than 3 700 specialists from the ‘Henry Reeve’ Contingent of Specialised Doctors have been deployed to 35 countries, including the Kingdom of Eswatini, to help face the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Cuba said it signed a new and important Cooperation Agreement on Health with Eswatini, in which Havana pledges its commitment to implementing it. It is said that Cuba is committed to providing the country with medical services, medicines, biotechnological products, primary healthcare with a community and preventive focus; advice for the development of research centres as well as training and professional training, among others.

Human trafficking

To show support to the kingdom, Cuba said US reports about cashing on human trafficking were not true; instead, 25 young people from Eswatini have graduated from Cuban universities.
Havana said emaSwati benefitted from annual scholarships granted by the Cuban Government, including in medicine, sports and physical culture careers, bachelor of primary education and higher education careers. “Cuba will continue to contribute in solidarity to the training of the kingdom’s human resources,” the country’s government stated. It said its officers went around Eswatini to verify with ‘healthy pride’ the great affection and respect that the people of Eswatini show Cuban doctors. Cuban information indicates that, on September 28, 2019, the Minister of Public Health of Cuba, José Angel Portal received former Minister of Health, Lizzie Nkosi.

Highlighted

During the meeting, the Cuban minister highlighted the work of the Cuban medical brigade that fulfilled its mission in this country. At that time, it was made up of 18 doctors and two health technicians. According to a Cuban Government press release, Nkosi was quoted to have said: “Cuban doctors who work in my country do their job very well; they do whatever it takes to get good results. They prefer to work in contact with the communities to achieve an impact on improving the health of our people”. Cuba has maintained relations of medical collaboration with Cuba reported that Eswatini felt it had been a great help in strengthening the health system in the kingdom.

The meeting took place within the framework of the presidential visit of the Kingdom of Eswatini to Cuba, and from the interest of this country to take experiences of the Cuban health system. Both ministers signed a mutual cooperation agreement between the two nations. It was reported that Portal Miranda reaffirmed Cuba’s willingness to advise the Ministry of Health of Eswatini for the strengthening of its primary healthcare system.

Victims

On another note, it is also mentioned in the report that traffickers use Eswatini as a transit country to transport foreign victims, primarily Mozambicans, to South Africa for forced labour.
Americans alleged that traffickers reportedly force Mozambican women into sex trafficking in Eswatini or transport them through Eswatini to South Africa. They are said to be entrapping emaSwati victims with promises of economic opportunities in Eswatini or abroad, particularly South Africa. Some traffickers are reportedly exploiting emaSwati in sex trafficking who voluntarily migrate in search of work, particularly in South Africa.

Reports suggest that labour brokers fraudulently recruit and charge fees to emaSwati for work in South African mines, which are common tactics used by traffickers. Traffickers recruit Eswatini men in border communities for forced labour in South Africa’s timber industry. Previous reports indicated Eswatini students were fraudulently recruited for educational opportunities in Taiwan and coerced to work in exploitative conditions in chicken factories. This was denied by Taiwan.USA said, as reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploited domestic and foreign victims in Eswatini and traffickers exploit victims from Eswatini abroad. It is said that traffickers target vulnerable communities, particularly those with high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates. They reportedly use social media to recruit victims, and reports indicate an increase in online child exploitation, including trafficking.

Exploit

They also exploit Eswatini girls, particularly orphans, in sex trafficking and domestic servitude, primarily in Eswatini and South Africa. Sex traffickers exploit orphaned Eswatini girls in exchange for food and money. According to the USA, traffickers exploit the country’s boys and foreign children in forced labour in agriculture, including cattle herding and market vending within the country. Eswatini boys, particularly in rural areas, who work on small marijuana (dagga) farms, are vulnerable to exploitative employers, according to the US Government report.

It is mentioned in the report that Mozambican boys migrate to Eswatini for work washing cars and herding livestock. In terms of the report, Mozambican business owners exploit other fellow countrymen in forced labour in small retail businesses in Manzini. In another development, the US Government made recommendations to the Eswatini Government on what needed to be done to eradicate human trafficking. It said the kingdom should do as follows:–

Increase efforts to investigate, prosecute and convict traffickers, including allegedly complicit officials.
Hire permanent staff for the shelter for victims of trafficking and GBV
Continue to provide care for victims, including by allocating sufficient government resources to ensure sustainability of operations.
Appoint a new protection officer in the Secretariat to ensure trafficking victims are appropriately identified and referred to services.
Train law enforcement, social workers, prosecutors, magistrates, immigration officers and other frontline officials to proactively identify trafficking victims among vulnerable populations, including at-risk children, migrants and Cuban medical workers.
Refer all identified trafficking victims to appropriate protection services.
It is said that Eswatini was able to maintain anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts.
The 2009 People Trafficking and People Smuggling (Prohibition) Act criminalises sex trafficking and labour trafficking and prescribes penalties of up to 20 years imprisonment for offences involving an adult victim and up to 25 years imprisonment for those involving a child victim.