(HERALD) ‘SA builds 2,4 million houses’

‘SA builds 2,4 million houses’

CAPE TOWN. The South African government has put roofs over the heads of some 12 million citizens by building 2,4 million houses since the end of apartheid in 1994, the housing minister said yesterday. While the backlog remained huge, the annual production of state-sponsored housing rose from 252 000 units to 272 000 in the past year, Lindiwe Sisulu told MPs during a debate on her department's annual budget.

"When you consider that the average poor household consists of five people, this would mean we have housed more than four times the population of Cape Town," she said.

Sisulu said the government had now produced more houses than the number of people still requiring them — 2,2 million individuals in total. "This is the first time in our history that our backlog has been less than the number of houses produced.

"This in effect means we are now over the apex, steadily we are overcoming our greatest challenge," she said.

The South African government aims to eradicate shack dwel-lings by 2014, but delivery has been hamstrung by slow and often shoddy construction. — AFP.