INLSA

29/09/2011 Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale launches the "Each One Settle One" compaign, at the JSE in Sandton JHB. Photo: Leon Nicholas

Roy Cokayne

Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale has made a plea to businesses, individual stakeholders, private sector institutions and donor agencies to “go the extra mile” and assist the government in reducing the housing backlog to prevent social unrest erupting.

The Department of Human Settlements was unable to address the burden of the housing backlog on its own, Sexwale said at the launch of the “Each One Settle One” campaign at the JSE yesterday.

The campaign aims to mobilise various stakeholders, including the top 200 JSE-listed companies, to assist the department in providing decent shelter to more than 2 million households living in squatter camps, as well as in informal settlements.

Sexwale said the number of informal settlements in the country had grown from 800 when he was Gauteng premier to 2 500 today.

The housing backlog under his watch had increased from 2.1 million houses when he became minister to 2.3 million, despite his department building 200 000 houses a year.

Sexwale attributed this situation to the increasing number of households and the decrease in the size of households, admitting that the government had got itself into “a very tight situation since 1994” by providing free houses for the poor.

“It was not the best thing to do. We can’t provide free housing forever but we have got to do that because we can’t turn our backs against the poor. It’s not their fault they are in that situation,” Sexwale said.

He stressed that the new campaign was not aimed at bringing all corporate social investment involving housing under one umbrella.

The government knew about the social investment by corporates. The campaign was aimed at telling corporates “what is not happening”.

“We have to go the extra mile. Something else has to be done. We need all hands on deck,” he said.

Sexwale warned that if there was a second recession in the country it would introduce social instability.

“The protests of our people are beginning to get violent every day. It’s worrying. The police are shooting every day. Let’s work together to try and stem the tide.”

Sexwale said housing was not just a social expenditure item but an economic dynamo because it contributed massively to economic growth.

“It stimulates the whole financial system and when it doesn’t happen, the world starts burning and we just don’t know where it ends.”

He said it was easy for firms to hide behind corporate social investment but it would “not keep this problem at bay”.

A social investment desk had been created in the department to manage the activities of the campaign and projects on a project-by-project basis.

Khanyisile Kweyama, the executive head of human resources at Anglo American Platinum, said it embraced the campaign and was contributing R1.4 billion towards facilitating the building of 20 000 houses for its employees over the next 10 years.

Leon van Schalkwyk, the group executive of strategic finance at Impala Platinum, said it had a proven track record in community-based housing solutions through its extensive home ownership programme in the North West to uplift its employees, which had resulted in the construction of more than 1 500 freestanding units over a three-year period.

It therefore made perfect business sense to get involved in this campaign, he said.