Apartheid social engineering a problem: Sexwale

The biggest problem facing the human settlements department is reversing the social engineering of the apartheid era, Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale said.

"The most important job as a strategic approach for human settlements is to deracialise this country," Sexwale told The New Age breakfast.

"That is a tough one. We meet at places of work but we go back to different places.

"That apartheid engineering of society negatively resulted in divided communities. My single largest job... as minister, is to close that divide."

Sexwale said building houses for people restored their human dignity and gave them opportunities to enter the capital and financial markets.

"When you have a house you play in the capital markets. When you leave this planet you can leave that to your children or whoever your successor is. You can use that fixed asset to exchange it for a loan." Sexwale said people needed to live where they could work, study, worship, and play.