Africa needed to prepare itself to weather and survive the looming second wave of the global recession, said human settlements minister Tokyo Sexwale on Tuesday.

Sexwale referred to International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Christine Lagarde’s statement that the world’s economy was on a “threatening downward spiral”, adding that this gave African governments and the private sector a push to work together in creating economies that would weather the financial storm that had hit the US and Europe.

“We have to work with what we have and do the best in supporting the needy in our communities, as they are the pillar we need to strengthen our economies,” he told an African Union Housing Finance general meeting in Johannesburg.

Sexwale called on delegates at the summit to talk about inter-governmental partnerships within Nepad where issues of housing finance became key to take people out of poverty because people were more productive when they woke up in comfort and therefore influenced their economies much more positively.

“We want to refer to this summit in making decisions on housing finance matters. We want you to deal with housing and human settlements for what it is. This industry affects agriculture, retail, distribution and mining. All of these are cemented together by finance. We want to see this summit change the discourse of economic growth around the continent,” he said.

Sexwale said the world’s economic situation made it harder for other economies to come to Africa’s rescue, thereby strengthening the need for African countries to stand together.

He added that housing financiers should understand the extreme poverty faced by many people in Africa and tailor-make finance products that were sensitive to the environment in which African economies operated.

Sexwale said the South African human settlements department had introduced mortgage default insurance in terms of which homeowners would be assured of shelter should they default on their repayments.

It also assured financiers and bond lenders of returns should such a situation occur and was an example of a tailor-made product to take care of a large market in South Africa that needed housing but, based on their income, may be overlooked by banks. - Roy Cokayne