Agreement between the South African government and the government of the Republic of Cuba on co-operation in the field of human settlements
The Minister of Human Settlements, Ms Connie September on Wednesday signed a new agreement with her Cuban counterpart Mr Rene Mesa Villafaña, the Minister of Construction, to continue and strengthen cooperation between the two countries towards the provision of human settlements in South Africa.
Speaking during the signing ceremony in Cuba, Minister September said the signing of the new Agreement would pave the way for the National Department of Human Settlements and provinces in South Africa to recruit individuals with technical expertise in the built environment.
“In order to address an acute skills shortage in the country, the South African Government took a conscious decision to enter into an agreement with the Cuban government to recruit individuals with relevant technical expertise in the areas of architecture and engineering”, said September.
As we reflect on twenty years of freedom in South Africa, we are taking stock of our achievements in providing shelter and access to basic services, as well as the remaining challenges in overcoming spatial fragmentation, inequality, poverty and providing social and economic redress.
The government and people of Cuba have a strong legacy of supporting the fight for the liberation of South Africa and, in the twenty years of freedom, of supporting our efforts to improve the lives of all South Africans.
The new Agreement provides an opportunity to sharpen the focus of the co-operation to more technical support for:
- The acceleration of the People’s Housing Process projects and other human settlements programmes,
- Knowledge sharing and capacity building on good practice for engineers and architects working on government’s human settlements projects,
- The promotion of community participation based on the Cuban experience, and
- Innovation and cost-effective project implementation based on Cuba’s experiences.
Minister September said her delegation presented their intentions to expand the existing co-operation between the two countries to reflect the change in mandate of the Department of Human Settlements and to accommodate the newly proposed areas of co-operation in:
- The recruitment and utilisation of Cuban Technical Advisors not only in Provincial Departments, but also by the National Department and currently accredited and soon to be accredited municipalities, as required.
- The inclusion of recruitment of special sanitation engineers to enhance and accelerate the provision of dignified sanitation to communities
- Co-operation to enhance our youth and women programmes in the People’s Housing Process
- An exchange programme on training of engineers to strengthen the skills transfer component of the agreement.
The Minister also took the opportunity to express South Africa’s appreciation and gratitude to the Cuban government and the Cuban Technical Advisors who have been assisting South Africa since the advent of the co-operation.
The cooperation has improved the lives of people throughout South Africa. For example in Seshego in Limpopo, Cuban Technical Advisors assisted in redesigning and overseeing the conversion of the hostel into family units, thus vastly improving the quality of residents’ lives.
This agreement builds on the existing relationship between the two countries which has seen 146 Cuban Technical Advisors in the field of engineering, geology and architecture support various provinces since 2003. An agreement was entered into between the two countries in 2004 on the Employment of Cuban Technical Advisors in the relevant South African provincial departments of housing.
Currently there are 34 Cuban Technical Advisors working in four provinces. The current agreement expires in November 2013 and it became necessary to enter into a new agreement which addresses the South African human settlements environment beyond only the construction of houses.
The rendering of these skills by Cuban engineers and architects has and will continue to assist provinces in the implementation of housing and human settlements projects in South Africa. Cuban Technical Advisors have been assisting various provinces with inspections, design, quality control, project management, technical assessments, and most importantly skills transfer to officials, inspectors and contractors.
Enquiries:
Vusi Tshose:
Cell: 083 581 5265
