S Sekoati on behalf of S Moloto: International Day of Disabled Persons
celebrations

3 December 2006

Programme Director
Honourable Executive Mayor of Waterberg District Municipality Councillor Pinkie
Kekana
Honourable Mayor of Thabazimbi Municipality Councillor Lucas Matlou
Honourable Speaker of Waterberg District Municipality Councillor Yunus
Lorgat
Members of the Provincial Legislature
Traditional leaders
Councillors
Leadership of people with disabilities
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen

Theme: Age of Hope, empowering people with disabilities through equal
opportunities; E-accessibility

3 December every year is regarded world wide as the international day for
disability. The day was proclaimed in 1992 by the United Nations as a platform
for raising awareness about disability rights all over the world.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are 600 million
disabled people all over the world, a figure which constitutes about 10% of the
world's population. Of this number, it is estimated that about 80% of all
disabled people worldwide live in developing countries like South Africa. It is
said that only one in five people who are disabled is economically active, and
only one in a hundred people with severe disabilities has a job in the labour
market. The rest and the vast majority of disabled persons depend on social
pensions and family support for a living, rather than earned income. Indeed, we
must find it regrettable that the image of a visually impaired person begging
for money in shopping malls and busy intersections is still a common sight in
most parts of our country, 12 years in a democracy. This shows the enormity of
the challenge we have to deal with as government in addressing the plight of
disabled people in our country.

Programme director

Historically speaking, the slogan "Nothing about us without us" has been
seen as part of this day and has since become an international rallying call
for all people with disability, the world over. This comes out of the
acknowledgment that disability is not merely just a health and welfare concern,
but a human right as well as a development challenge. Some of you may well know
that, in the past, disability was classified more as a problem of the
individual; who was seen as helpless and as a result had to be changed or cued
by medical experts through treatment and rehabilitation. As years progressed,
the disabled people themselves challenged and rebutted this view which sought
to shame and degrade them as full human beings and equal members of society. As
we now recall, a powerful movement of disabled people gained momentum in the
80s, led by activists such as the late Friday Mavuso to articulate the
progressive view that disabled people were normal human beings whose challenge
was worsened by political, social and economic barriers. This prompted the
disabled people to join the trenches of the liberation movement and to start
fighting for their oppression and systematic abuse.

As government, we fully agree with this view that disabled people are normal
human beings who are capable of living normal lives to their full potential. We
also accept that this can only happen if we systematically remove barriers that
oppress them as members of society. We fully support the slogan "nothing about
us without us", hence we continue to do all we can to remove the remaining
obstacles that still frustrate and condemn disabled people to a life of
misery.

On this day, the international day for disabled persons, we recommit
ourselves to continue from were comrade Friday Mavuso and others left off, by
among others, fighting abuse and violence against women and children with
disabilities, as part of the 16 Days of Activism campaign. As part of the
activities of 16 Days of Activism, let us not look away when we see HIV and
AIDS reaping apart even the lives of those who are disabled among ourselves. In
many instances we have become accustomed to see disabled people being abused by
their fellow family members; and in some cases, social grants of disabled
people being abused by their relatives without their knowledge or consent. All
these tendencies reflect negatively against us as non-disabled members of
society, and confirm our prejudice and contempt towards our fellow compatriots
who are disabled. As part of the 16 Days campaign, we appeal to everyone to
stop this abuse of disabled persons and to break the silence where we see these
practices happening.

Since 1994, government has established Offices on the Status of Disabled
People in the Presidency and in the Premier's offices so as to ensure that the
needs of this sector of our community are placed higher on our agenda. We have
passed a number of supportive legislations and set of policies because we
understand that integrating people with disabilities into the mainstream of
society is paramount to the work of government.

As a result, we have begun to see more and more persons with disability
increasingly accessing services from government institutions which is helping
in improving the quality of their lives. Steps have also been taken to ensure
that government's supply chain mechanisms are revised and strengthened to
accommodate enterprises of persons with disabilities.

In this regard, between 2004 and 2005, about five tenders were awarded to
companies owned by people with disabilities at a cost value of R398 000.
However, this has since improved, with the formation of Limpopo Disabled
Entrepreneurs Network lately. The number of tenders awarded to disabled
entrepreneurs between last year and this year has since increased to 49 at the
total cost value of R14 million.

The gradual increase in the number of tenders being awarded to persons with
disability has given us enormous confidence that we are indeed on the right
track. This only shows that the disabled people of our province are heeding our
message of Vukuzenzele and are beginning to get involved in business and in
other community upliftment projects. We are told that a provincial database of
disabled entrepreneurs has since been developed with 105 companies registered
in the various sectors of the economy. It is our hope that this figure will be
increased to 200 or more in the coming years.

It is also encouraging that in recent years we have seen the number of
disabled persons employed in government increasing although at a slow pace. The
overall two percent target that is expected to be met by departments has still
not been achieved although some departments are making faster progress than
others. Departments that have reached this target include: Roads and Transport,
Agriculture, Sport, Arts and Culture and Public Works. Departments with
disabled persons in senior management positions include the Office of the
Premier, Roads and Transport, Agriculture, Public Works and Economic
Development. With regard to municipalities, it is regrettable to know that only
Lephalale Municipality has a municipal manager with disability. Other
municipalities are still trailing behind and we urge them to start recruiting
people with disability in senior management positions, and follow the good
example of Lephalale.

Programme director

Over and above these, the democratic government has been making a number of
interventions to improve the lives of disabled people for the better. Some of
you might know that we have come a long way since 2003, when access to
wheelchairs was a major challenge to disabled persons in our hospitals. We are
now happy that the hurdles have been removed and the service is in such a way
that no waiting lists are available for wheelchairs. This implies that a
disabled person is given a wheelchair within a month of assessment.
Furthermore, the Department of Health and Social Development is working on a
system to improve rehabilitation services for blind persons, in the provision
of white canes, low vision devices and training of blind persons in orientation
and mobility services.

Programme director

For along time now, South Africa relied on special schools to educate our
disabled children. It is common knowledge that this system can only accommodate
few learners. However our Department of Education has come up with a programme
to make regular schools accessible for disabled children. Through advocacy
campaigns, thousands of mildly disabled learners are now being admitted in
regular schools reducing the number of disabled children outside the formal
schooling system. We therefore wish, in this regard, to make a call to all
parents with children who are disabled to release them to attend these
schools.

Good progress is also being registered in some areas with regard to poverty
alleviation projects. For instance the Department of Labour has run training in
more than 20 projects of disabled persons in different income generating
skills, Social Development funded 15 projects at the value of R110 000 each and
continues to subsidise more than 20 protective workshops of disabled persons on
a monthly basis. The Department of Land Affairs purchased a farm for a group of
disabled persons in Bela-Bela Municipality at the value of R1,3 million and the
Department of Agriculture is supporting more than five projects of disabled
persons. All of these interventions show the extent to which government is
prepared to invest in the lives of disabled people in the province.

Programme director

We all agree that access to buildings and information is still a major
challenge for disabled persons in general. While all government departments
have made tremendous progress in making sure that their buildings are
accessible by installing lifts, ramps, handrails and wheelchair toilets, some
private sector buildings are still highly inaccessible. With regard to
information accessibility, we are pleased to note that there are a number of
government institutions that have started printing their documents in Braille
to be accessed by blind readers. Mopani District Municipality printed its
Integrated Development Plan (IDP) in Braille, which makes it the first
municipality in the province to do so. We wish to encourage other
municipalities to follow-suit. Furthermore, institutions like the South African
Social Security Agency, Consumer Rights Office in Economic Development, HIV and
AIDS Directorate in the Department of Health and the Youth Commission, to
mention but a few, have all printed their brochures in Braille or audiotape.
Sign language interpreter services are also provided to our public events as a
matter of standard practice.

However, despite these achievements and success stories, there are also
still some glaring challenges in our province that needs to be addressed.

The first one relates to the absence of skills which most of our disabled
people do not have, which then makes it difficult for them to participate
equally and fully in the business world and in other sectors of the
economy.

The reality is that while five percent of the total procurement budget in
government has been set aside for the benefit of disabled entrepreneurs, we are
still faced with a real or perceived challenge that the sector might not be
ready or will run short of capacity to participate in business, due to skills
shortage and lack of training.

In addition to this, another reality is that our own business support
agencies, including government departments in some instances, still do not seem
to be user-friendly to entrepreneurs with disabilities. For example, in many of
these agencies, there are no dedicated officials who are trained in the use of
sign language and in some cases, important documents such as tender documents,
are not in Braille which makes it difficult for disabled people to follow
processes.

Another glaring challenge relates to the lack of access to information
communication technology (ICT) and other assistive devises for use in writing
and reading. We call on employers to take responsibility for the provision of
assistive devices so that people with disabilities are not placed at a
disadvantage in comparison with their non-disabled counterparts.

We also believe we still have a long way to ensure that the Employment
Equity Act is implemented, especially in the private sector in order to ensure
that all forms of discrimination in the workplace are eradicated.

Programme director

Notwithstanding all the challenges, things have indeed become different,
when one assesses the level of improvement of quality of life of disabled
persons in general since the African Nation Congress (ANC) government took
over. One would realise that government has done a lot to develop and improve
the livelihood of the disabled in the most fundamental way. However, we still
believe that the vision of a better life for all will not materialise for the
disability sector, until all role-players play their part. Non-governmental
organisations and the private sector must also play their part in ensuring that
this sector of our population enjoys the fruits of freedom, which they have
fought hard for many years. In this regard, we implore upon big business to
employ people with disabilities and to include them in learnership and
internship programmes. Bursaries and scholarships also have to be extended to
this sector of our population, if we are to maximise skills amongst them.
Together we must also invest in programmes which seek to change the mindset of
our society towards people with disabilities.

We are confident that each one of us can succeed in increasing the
opportunities for disabled persons to become self-sustainable members of our
society.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department Health and Social Development, Limpopo Provincial
Government
3 December 2006
Source: Limpopo Provincial Government (http://www.limpopo.gov.za)