Hon Chairperson, I hereby give notice that on the next sitting day of the Council I shall move:
That the Council -
(1) notes that on 27 October 2009, the Minister for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the hon Shiceka, informed this House that he had found some destitute households without water and proper sanitation in the Western Cape;
2) further notes that some of these households had their water supply cut, were constantly harassed and threatened with letters of demand simply because they were poor and unable to pay for their constitutionally enshrined right to water;
(3) further notes that-
(a) during the debate on the annual address by the President on 29 October 2009, the Premier of the Western Cape, the hon Zille, persistently denied that the City of Cape Town had cut the water supply to several households across the Cape Town Metro and challenged the Minister to investigate this issue further so that the DA-led municipality could be absolved; and
(b) that Minister Shiceka has since established a task team to investigate water cuts and other related claims in the metro;
4) takes this opportunity to condemn in the strongest possible terms the Mayor of Cape Town, Dan Plato, for threatening legal action against the Minister;
5) calls upon all the people of the metro who had their water supply cut and who were persistently harassed by the City of Cape Town to take part in this important initiative and submit any information that will enhance our government's fight against the victimisation of the poor and the violation of their constitutionally enshrined rights;
(6) further calls on the Minister to ensure that the report of the task team is tabled in this House for debate and further consideration by the relevant committee of the Council, in line with our mandate to represent and protect the interests of the people in the provinces.