SA in 'Haiti-like' situation

2010-01-28 14:07

Cape Town - South Africa is dealing with a "Haiti like situation" every day with squatters around the country enduring floods, fires and disease, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said on Thursday.

"We are dealing every day with a manmade disaster," Sexwale said during a briefing to Parliament's human settlements committee.

"It is Haiti every day. The earth broke there. Here the earth is not broken, but consequences are the same. It is a disaster."

Sexwale said that in 1994 there were around 300 informal settlements in South Africa, while today there were more than 2 600.

'Not government's fault'

The growth of informal settlements was not the fault of the government, he said.

"People have run away from many push factors."

"These are refugees in our own country. It is a disaster. This is disaster management, but with a view of creating assets, with a view of giving those people a better quality of life."

People were also being pulled towards built-up areas to find work, to reconnect with families broken up by single cell hostel systems created by mining houses and to be closer to amenities.

"They are like all of us. They want schools, cinemas. They want shopping malls. So when they park next to a highway don't blame them. They go [to] the highway because it brings them closer to getting bread."

Sexwale said in one informal settlement he come across children blowing up used condoms as though they were balloons.

"They pick up anything that shines," he said.

- SAPA