The DA visited some of the De Doorn farms yesterday and was shocked to witness the full-blown intimidation campaign waged by Cosatu against farm workers who are reluctant to strike. The so-called organisers were standing on street corners and threatening workers that their houses would be burnt down or their wives would be raped if they go to work. This threat was carried out on Tuesday night when a farm worker's house was burnt down.
It is clear that the strikes are politically motivated. They are simply the latest installation in the ANC's campaign to make the DA-led Western Cape ungovernable, known as "Project Reclaim". The Food and Allied Workers' Union, a Cosatu affiliate, yesterday announced the campaign of rolling mass action in support of the strike. This is despite Tony Ehrenreich's claim that the strikes were self-organised.
This rolling mass action in the Western Cape makes no sense, because the national minimum wage is not set by the provincial government. It is set by the national Minister of Labour, the ANC's Mildred Oliphant, in consultation with Cosatu, who agreed to the minimum wage. [Interjections.]
The reality is that the mass action is not about workers' rights at all. All evidence points to Cosatu's orchestrated campaign to intimidate workers and destabilise rural communities in the Western Cape. The DA fully supports an investigation into working conditions on farms across the whole country. Farm workers directly support close to one of five million people living in the Western Cape alone. We must do all we can to expand farm workers' opportunities and improve their lives. It is despicable that Cosatu and the ANC in the Western Cape continue to use farm workers as pawns in their political strategy to win power. [Time expired.] Thank you.