Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale on Thursday called on all South Africans to assist government in tackling the country’s growing housing backlog.

Even though government has built three-million subsidised houses since the dawn of democracy in 1994, South Africa still faces a housing backlog of about 2.3-million houses and it has to fork out R50-billion to rectify shoddy construction of some of the subsidised housing.

This means that about 12-million people in the country is currently without decent housing.

Speaking to ‘the captains of industry’ at the JSE, Sexwale said that government could not shoulder the backlog on its own and called on private companies and individuals to assist through an initiative dubbed, ‘each-one-settle-one’.

Currently, the South African government, through the Department of Human Settlements (DHS), builds about 200 000 subsidised houses a year. “At this rate it is almost impossible to deal with the backlog, we would like to see this rate of delivery double, at least, through the participation of other South Africans who are willing to help,” said the Minister.

The DHS has set a target of eradicating the backlog by 2030.

The department received R22-billion for the delivery of housing this year, while a further R100-billion had been allocated to other departments to assist with the necessary bulk infrastructure needed to establish successful settlements.

However, Sexwale noted that government’s budget was not sufficient to meet the required accelerated pace of delivery to achieve this target.

Through the each-one-settle-one’ campaign, ordinary South African citizens can contribute to eradicate the 2 500 slums in the country and to provide decent housing to the poorest of the poor.

The DHS would set up an assistance ‘desk’, which would be steered by Human Settlements director-general Thabane Zulu.

The desk would assist private companies and individuals with the financials and red tape associated with the process.

The Minister also noted that the money contributed by the private sector would not be mixed up with government money, but would be dealt with through a separate financial vehicle.

“We need all hands on deck to sort this problem out and to create a better South Africa for all,” said Sexwale.

Subsidised housing costs about R55 000 a unit.