SOUTH Africa will continue to fund-raise for Haiti. Already, several search and rescue teams have joined the international effort to help Haitians.

The "Africa for Haiti" campaign, which was launched on Friday, will focus on reconstruction in the country that was recently destroyed by an earthquake.

The campaign is endorsed by the Nelson Mandela Foundation and includes a number of civil society organisations that include Civicus, African Monitor, Nepad Business Foundation, the South African Red Cross Society, Charity Aid Foundation (South Africa), Trust Africa.

Graça Machel, wife of former president Nelson Mandela and patron of the foundation, said: "We just could not sit and watch."

Trevor Ncube, a publisher and entrepreneur who is also part of the campaign, said: "We need to be counted as Africans."

The campaign will for the next six months seek funding from a variety of sources. Already the Ackerman Foundation has donated R250000 to the campaign.