Hon Speaker, I move:
That the House -
(1) notes with profound sadness the untimely death of hon Dirk Cornelis du Toit on Monday, 1 June 2009;
(2) further notes that Dirk du Toit matriculated from Horskool Boshof with the best results in the then Orange Free State and received a bursary from the Department of Defence to study Chemical Engineering and that he gave this up in order to read law at the then University of the Orange Free State;
(3) recognises that in 1994 he was among the first representatives of our people dispatched by the African National Congress to serve in the first ever democratic Parliament and that he was considered an expert in Legal Hermeneutics, Constitutional Law and Administrative Law and hence was intimately involved in the drafting of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996);
(4) recalls that, long before he became a Member of Parliament representing the African National Congress, Dirk was strongly motivated by a desire to establish the rights of farmworkers, who under apartheid were entirely at the mercy of farmers, and that he believed this was a necessary precondition for the development and upliftment of the rural areas;
(5) remembers that he had a gentle personality, was a lucid thinker, deeply committed to the cause of justice and social progress;
(6) acknowledges that his untimely death has robbed South Africa of one of its exceptional academics and politicians who contributed immensely to the liberation of South Africa;
(7) believes that he discharged his responsibilities with dedication, discipline, diligence and humility and that the life of this great leader epitomises heroism and commitment to the cause of the poor; and
8) conveys its condolences to the Du Toit family, the African National Congress and the trade union movement in general, and assures them that the loss sustained by them is not theirs alone but equally felt by Parliament.