Its clear to me the squatters don't actually choose to live in squatter camps. But there has to be a better way, and surely its up to government to sort this out?

If government can afford luxury, and I mean millions worth of luxury, then surely they can do a total revamp of these communities like Du Noon? A top to toe clean up and I mean clean out the crime, confiscate the starving stray animals and place them in animal shelters, have the electrical situation sorted and proper structures be put in place and maybe even dirt roads?

I mean if we are paving the way for 2010 - paying soccer players hefty salaries and creating lovely Transnet tunnel trains...but we cant fix up broken communities? Its like inviting people over for a party and your house is beautiful except for the garden, which is full of broken glass, cigarette buds and emaciated animals. How can South Africa shove that under the carpet while dishing out millions for other causes?

I know it doesn't sound glamorous but wouldn't you choose to have a squatter camp free South Africa over the 2010 world cup?

A full community clean up project will be costly and will take time but with government cooperation - combined with local funding, it would mean that we can turn Du Noon, a place that we absolutely cringe as we drive pass, into a healthy safe and clean living space for the destitute. Of course the community itself will have to pitch in where possible and appropriate. I am not saying we dish out 4 star accommodation, but what I am saying is we fix up what is already broken.

Why is it that the government takes YEARS to get a project like this planned, meetings lag on, funds disappear and their talks forever postponed. But there were no delays whatsoever in arranging Zuma's presidential celebration, seeing it started before all the votes were even counted.

something's got to give.

The bigger picture and the bottom line is that we all drive around in our cars, we pass these areas with shacks and squatter camps all in and we all ignore what is happening a couple metres away from us. We ignore it because we cant do anything about it and feel guilty about not doing anything at the same time. We all live in our comfortable worlds with our basic needs met and our safe lives, not to say we don't deserve to have safe happy lives - we work everyday and life is one hell of a ball game for anyone.

But shouldn't we also speak up and fight for the people who don't have that privilege of being safe and having normal lives? Its so much better than ignoring the poverty and dangerously built communities we pass by with the feeling of "helpless" in the pit of our stomachs.