Chair, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting of the Council I shall move on behalf of the ANC:
That the Council -
1) notes that, given the recent reports by Human Rights Watch and others on the abuse of farm workers and given the DA's evasive reaction and denial of such abuses, it is significant to note that the wife of Western Cape leader of the DA and MEC for health, Mr Theuns Botha, allegedly just recently assaulted and unfairly dismissed one of their farm workers working in their garden when she threw a cup of hot coffee at him and fired him there and then and chased him off their farm, leaving him destitute;
2) notes further that, in an alleged attempt to silence the worker and to prevent him from reporting the matter to the police and laying charges against Mrs Botha and further to prevent him disclosing the incident to the media and others, Mr Botha allegedly arranged that the worker be bribed by offering him temporary free accommodation;
3) notes further that the alleged abusive and unlawful behaviour of Mrs Botha and the ill-treatment and aggression towards their farm workers in general, is not only inhumane but indeed unlawful and in contravention of the Bill of Rights as enshrined in the Constitution of South Africa;
4) submits that it is in the public interest to expose the DA and in particular Mr and Mrs Botha for their alleged unlawful and inhumane actions and that the incident be properly investigated by the Public Protector, the SA Human Rights Commission and the SA Police Service and that appropriate steps be taken and charges be laid against Mr and Mrs Botha, including charges of bribery and corruption; and
5) calls on the DA to heed the call by the Western Cape MEC for agriculture, Mr Gerrit van Rensburg, on 30 August 2011, when he called for assistance in bringing the alleged perpetrators of violence against farm workers to book and further calls on the DA to act accordingly.