As South Africans, we all are very familiar with informal housing. Hall describes it as “informal dwellings or shacks in backyards or informal settlements; dwellings or houses/flats/rooms in backyards built of iron, wood or other non-durable materials; and caravans or tents”. Almost 1.7-million children, representing 9% of our country’s children, lived in such dwellings during 2018. This “has declined slightly from 2.3-million in 2002”.
Hall states in this regard that over the past 15 years, children’s access to water shows little improvement. In 2018, almost six million children did not have clean drinking water on site. What is needed in South Africa, is a massive infrastructure and social equity project, which unfortunately, cannot be achieved in the short term. Providing more effective and safe public access points and facilities regarding water and sanitation, however, is a matter of urgency, as is greater public awareness of Covid-19. Nelson Mandela was not without reason called the father of our nation, particularly of our children.