Cuba will train South Africa immigration officers

Business Day

CAPE TOWN — The Department of Home Affairs is about to use Cuban interior ministry officials to train immigration officers and will use 350 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members in a pilot project to see if the plan works.

Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma announced yesterday that in the reorientation of the department’s training system they had "benchmarked" with both Russia and Cuba, as well as some others. This alone will raise eyebrows about the plan because the Cuban interior ministry has been likened to the Soviet KGB and the East German Stasi, particularly through its most important section, the General Directorate of Intelligence.

The plan to use soldiers was part of the government’s instruction that lateral transfers between departments be considered as a way of filling vacant posts. The soldiers’ training will allow older soldiers to join another department and gain skills while freeing up space for new and young soldiers to be trained.

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