ANC says Carlisle doesn't care for rural people
The Western Cape ANC says DA leaders do not care for poor and ordinary people in rural areas and on farms. They stand idly by, while scores of rural people too often die in regular gruesome vehicle crashes.
This reaction follows the ten people killed this morning when a large number farmworkers on a truck crashed with a construction vehicle near Porterville.
The ANC conveyed its condolences to the family and friends of the deceased. The ANC also expressed its shock and horror at the crash site where representatives of the ANC were present to assist and look at the conditions.
The ANC also expressed its shock and commiserates with the family and friends of the five victims of this morning's crash near Kraaifontein on the N1.
The ANC asks for an urgent investigation into the Porterville accident. If premier Helen Zille and her administration cannot do the job, the ANC will call on the national department of transport to investigate the high incidence of accidents where large numbers of farmworkers are killed and maimed in this province. It is clear the DA-led provincial government does not know what to do, the ANC says.
International Relations and Cooperation Deputy Minister Marius Fransman, provincial leader of the Western Cape ANC, asks where is the study into the transportation of rural people which were commissioned a few years ago?
"What happened to the information and the report? For almost three years Transport and Public Works MEC Robin Carlisle sits on it and does nothing. There should be dedicated transport for poor people living on farms and rural areas to access opportunities and the economy.
"But nothing happens as Carlisle and the DA is happy with the present arrangement where farm owners speed by in posh vehicles, while workers that help to create their wealth walk or struggle to get a lift. Where some transport is offered, the majority are moved on the back of trucks like animals or cargo.
"The DA throws money around in more affluent areas, while farmworkers have to bite the bullet with little services. Some leaders of the DA also maintain silence on this inequality as they side with the landlords and farmers. Clearly, the poor and the vulnerable, like these farmworkers, are not a priority to the DA. They just do not give a hoot about them," says Fransman.
The Porterville tragedy follows hot on the heels of the Clanwilliam crash where ten other rural people were killed, as well as accidents like those near Stellenbosch, Cape Town and the notorious example of the Rheenendal bus disaster near Knysna in the recent past that claimed fifteen lives.
Statement issued by Cobus Grobler, ANC Western Cape, January 30 2012
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