Foldaway house lauded

Threshhold of a dream Elsie and Rajan Harinarain, who invented the foldaway house, were excited about the National Minister of Housing’s enthusiastic response to the product

THE invention by a young local entrepreneur of foldaway, re-usable emergency housing units could solve a huge problem in this country.
Speaking at the televised official launch of the product at ZCBF Community Park on Tuesday, National Minister of Housing - Dr Lindiwe Sisulu said that the foldaway house was the first viable alternative to housing disaster victims in tents.
This after a demonstration during which a foldaway house was erected in little over two minutes. Sisulu called on provincial and local governments - in whose domain disaster management lies - to take advantage of the opportunity to purchase the units.
‘The launch of the foldaway house is a celebration of innovation in problem solving, entrepreneurship and the triumph of the human spirit: the three elements that South Africa needs the most to address many of the problems we have,’ said Sisulu.
‘Looking at just how often we are faced with disasters there couldn’t be a better time to have this launch.
‘We all experienced the ravages of the floods of 2000 where over 80 000 people were left homeless and over R5-billion worth of damage was caused to infrastructures that included schools and bridges.
‘I was called upon to take charge of Government’s response to this scourge.
‘It took us a whole year to repair the damage, but what was most disconcerting were the conditions that the destitute had to wait in for relief - they were unbearable,’ said Sisulu.

Tents not good
‘I remember coming to visit the community of Mkhuze five months after the floods.
‘They were still in threadbare tents and disease had set in,’ said Sisulu.
‘We took a decision then that tents were certainly not the answer to our disasters.
‘Together with the army we put up temporary shelters, not dissimilar to what we have here.
‘We very quickly got into trouble with the Minister of Finance because the temporary shelters we had designed proved to be more expensive than permanent shelter: a good idea gone to seed because it was not sustainable.
‘I could go on and recount instances where our most vulnerable are further victimised by the way we respond to their plight.
‘Praising local inventor Rajan Harinarain and the Zululand Chamber of Business Foundation who have gone into partnership with Tahzade Disaster Management to market the houses, Sisulu said she was ‘glad that finally an innovation has been developed to replace tents as a means of accommodation following disasters’.
‘For tents do not enable privacy; they do not enable the provision of services such as electricity, sanitation and water.
‘They do not provide a habitable environment for living where the health, education and social needs of people can be met, in the short-term.’
Leaders
‘Outside Government, the Zululand Chamber of Business Foundation has become the first stakeholder to respond positively from KwaZulu-Natal,’ said Sisulu.
‘Based in a province where 43 per cent of the population lives in informal settlements that are situated in hazardous conditions, the launch of the foldaway house today should serve as an encouragement to the rest of the private sector to join in.
‘It should encourage municipalities to speed up efforts aimed at fully implementing the programme to sustain the hope of communities.
‘Temporary or emergency shelter is obviously not a permanent solution to the housing challenge, but it is a far better solution to bring relief to communities under stress and poverty that are ever prone to disasters.
‘I am very grateful that the Zululand Chamber of Business Foundation and Tahzade Disaster Management saw fit to assist us by initiating the foldaway house,’ said Sisulu