President Jacob Zuma said he was nearly reduced to tears when he saw a family's living conditions in a shack he visited in Orange Farm.

"It is not every time that I feel like crying during my visits. You could swear no-one lived in that shack," Zuma told premiers, ministers and MECs at the President's Co-ordinating Council in Pretoria.

Any attempt to explain why people were still living "like pigs" when the country was nearly celebrating 20 years of freedom would be meaningless, Zuma said yesterday.

On Monday Zuma visited Sweetwaters, a poverty-ridden informal settlement in Orange Farm where residents opened their chests about their demands.

He visited Busisiwe Mlotjwa's mud ramshackle which had no windows and a door that could probably fall off at any time.

The President's Co-ordinating Council was to examine the human settlements delivery agreement and discuss solutions to problems affecting delivery during its meeting.