Judgment has been reserved in an urgent interdict application in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria which lobby group AfriForum lodged to prevent the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) from making a planned R50-million donation to Cuba. 

Judge Brenda Neukircher has committed to handing down a written judgment by next week. 

AfriForum's legal representative, Johan Hamman, argued that no mandatory parliamentary overview was conducted over the donation and that the National Treasury did not properly approve it. 

Representing the Dirco, advocate Hephzibah Rajah argued that the interdict application was "premature" and submitted that while the commitment to allocate the funds had been made, "the decision was not yet binding given that further steps towards concluding the agreement were still outstanding between the two governments".

Neukircher appeared to agree with Rajah and said that "the decision to donate, not the donation" had been concluded.

"It (the communication from Dirco and National Treasury) says we have decided to donate and the decision to donate was made in line" with the prerequisite legislation, the judge said.

She added that "there hasn't been a completion of the steps by which the actual money will be transferred; we are still right at the beginning. We (the respondents) have made the decision. We got the funds, but we haven't finished the rest. We are not there yet. The question is whether, under the present circumstances, AfriForum has a case of irrationality based on these court papers. And I must tell you, I am concerned that they haven't.

Rajah also argued that "correct processes were followed and the decision was rationally taken with no harm posed to the applicants or those the applicants are representing".

She also argued that AfriForum proceeded on the basis that the money would be transferred immediately, which was not true, given that parliamentary processes pertaining to the donation would still be undertaken. 

Representing the National Treasury, advocate Mahlape Sello also indicated that processes were followed in concluding the commitment towards making the donation. 

Sello added that the lobby group's legal challenge was therefore misplaced and ought to have been directed towards challenging the African Renaissance and International Cooperation Fund (ARF), which allows the Dirco to make such donations.

Last week, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor defended the government's decision to donate R50-million in aid to Cuba.

She said Cuba faces chronic food, fuel, and medicine shortages.

Pandor said the ARF, located within the Dirco and legally constituted to implement humanitarian assistance of such a nature, is coordinating the project.

She was responding to a written parliamentary question from DA MP Willem Faber, Pandor said the Cuban government had called on South Africa and other partner countries in their "hour of need" in July 2021.

AfriForum's bone of contention is that no mandatory parliamentary overview was conducted over the donation and that National Treasury did not properly approve it.

"It is also an utter disgrace that the government borrows money from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international organisations but wants to donate that money, and some of the country's other money, to Cuba," AfriForum said.

In a founding affidavit, AfriForum CEO Carl Kriel argued that the donation was irrational, given the enormous amount of debt South Africa has.

"The decision is unreasonable and wholly insensible. The decision has angered and frustrated many South Africans, who are aware thereof that all is not well inside our republic when it comes to important constitutional obligations and the state of our economy," he said.