This announcement
from our new Minister of Housing (as of Jan. 2003)
ruffled a few feathers in the South African
architectural profession. The South African
Institute of Architects sent a delegation to meet
with the Minister to discuss the deployment of
foreign architects in a country that is awash with
large numbers of unemployed highly qualified and
experienced architects.
The reaction is
symptomatic of the counter effects of Affirmative
Action in South Africa today. White architects in
South Africa have become so sensitive to their
exclusion from mainstream public works that they
have become completely insensitive to the plight of
others. This somewhat xenophobic reaction is
reminiscent of the attacks on Nigerian workers in
South Africa by the unemployed Black youth in the
Hillbrow ghetto.
As a country that
exports large numbers of architects to foreign
countries - the Middle East and UK in particular -
we should be more sensitive to the fact that our
profession is not bound by borders, nationalism or
culture. Further, as African architects we should
welcome interaction with the architects of the rest
of the world; even, or specially, on our own turf.
Our thirty eight
Cuban colleagues should be made to feel welcome and
we should be going out of our way to benefit from
their experience and their particular background.
These good people have found freedom from a paternalistic
and corrupt form of socialism and deserve
nothing but our warmest welcome, our support and a
share of our hard earned freedom.
Please read :
Housing for the People
: Isobel Anderson looks at the challenges facing Cuba’s housing system today.
DOWNLOAD REPORT :
Housing
Policy in Castro's Cuba by Teddy Kapur and Alastair
Smith. (650 K PDF File / Right Click and
Save Target As ...)
See
also:
The
South African Housing Ministry's Home Page
Parliamentary
Media Briefing, September 2003
by Minister of
Housing, Mrs Brigitte Mabandla
FORMER
HOUSING MINISTER TO RECEIVE AN AWARD FROM THE UNITED
NATIONS.
Acrobat
Reader for PDF files available here. |
