Malema’s Cuban Dream for SA: A Basket Case Nobody Would Want to Live in

Economic Freedom Fighters leader, Julius Malema, has consistently voiced his support for a socialist form of government, often citing Cuba as an example of the direction he envisions for South Africa if his party were to gain a majority. Malema’s tweets have described Cuba as a successful socialist state, and he seems drawn to the idea of enduring leadership akin to the Cuban communist leaders who have held power since the 1959 revolution. To gain insight into Malema’s vision of a South Africa modelled after Cuba, we sought the expertise of Dr. Christopher Sabatini, a senior Research Fellow for Latin America and the Americas program at Chatham House. In an interview with Biznews, dr. Sabatini refutes the notion of Cuba’s success as a socialist state, describing it as an economic basket case that primarily relies on tourism and the export of doctors for survival. He reveals that a significant number of Cubans, 100,000, have fled the country this year alone due to poverty and malnutrition, and that the perception of good Cuban health care is false. Cubans have to bring their own bed sheets to hospital and there is no medicine. Just this week, a Cuban legislator named Carlos Miguel Pérez, who is the only businessman in the country to sit in the communist National Assembly, highlighted the Cuban economy’s inability to provide enough food for all. Pérez said that even a basic item like Gouda cheese costs more than what a state worker is paid in a month, roughly 4,000 Cuban pesos or $20.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices