Hon Speaker, the ANC acknowledges with deep concern the recent report by Human Rights Watch on human rights conditions in the Western Cape's fruit and wine industries.
The report documents the ghastly and inhumane working and living conditions of the more than 121 000 farmworkers in the province, which include: on- site housing unfit for living, exposure to pesticides without proper safety equipment, lack of access to toilets or drinking water while working, and efforts to block workers from forming unions.
Although the DA Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr Gerrit van Rensburg, states that the report's findings represent extreme and isolated cases within an otherwise sound agricultural sector, these are not isolated cases but pervasive. He emphasises that the wellbeing of farmworkers is his passion and a top priority. However, the report clearly lays bare the fact that no urgency has been given to this issue by the DA. The denial of farmworkers' forming unions is indicative of the DA's complete aversion to organised labour, and farmworkers are left at the mercy of their exploitative bosses.
The agreement between the Department of Labour, Agri SA and the other parties, which requires a labour inspection to give farm owners notice of inspection, hardly helps, as it works against gaining a true perspective of what really takes place on those farms. It would be helpful to engage a different ... [Time expired.]