The Democratic Alliance (DA) will request South Africa's Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke to urgently investigate whether South Africa’s loan to Cuba is a money-laundering scheme by the African National Congress (ANC).

This follows a response to a parliamentary question in which President Cyril Ramaphosa revealed that R147 631 000 had been loaned to Cuba since 2018, in a deal set up by former President Jacob Zuma in 2010 after his State visit to the country.

Recently, government’s plan to donate R50-million to Cuba was halted pending a court case, prompting International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor to classify the donation as food, humanitarian aid and health items.

The DA’s member of the Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation, Willem Faber, suspects that the donation could possibly be a money-laundering scheme, where the money lands back with the ANC.

Faber said it is fiscally irresponsible for South Africa to loan money to any country given that at home we have one of the highest unemployment rates in the world.

He said South Africa’s economy is in tatters after the severe mismanagement of the Covid-pandemic and years of State capture, looting and corruption by the governing party.

“The ANC government’s justification of this loan, as well as its intention to spend a further R50-million in aid to Cuba, is reprehensible,” said Faber.