Presidency during the National Disability Machinery (NDM) indaba, Tambo
Southern Sun, Kempton Park
20 April 2009
Member of the JMC of Parliament
Inter-Provincial Forum on Disability
National departments
All members of the National Disability Machinery (NDM)
The Commission on Human Rights
Secretariat of the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities
South African Local Government Association (SALGA)
South African Disability Alliance
All Disabled Peopleâs Organisations
We are gathered here today to launch the United Nations Convention on the
rights of persons with disabilities, to handover the Office on the Status of
Disabled Persons (OSDP) 15 Year Review Report, to show case the Danish Economic
Empowerment Project and to interact with business in the vital role they play
in empowering persons with disabilities.
I would like to say I am happy to have this opportunity to meet the National
Disability Machinery to discuss these documents and other issues that may
arise. In fact, this NDM meeting comes at an opportune time namely the
beginning of the new financial year a perfect time for government to ensure
that plans and programmes which must be operationalised are done so in a fully
inclusive manner.
Having spent only a few months as Minister in the Presidency, I have been
impressed at how the disability sector in doing their best to overcome
challenges facing the members of this sector. I have had the opportunity to
meet with various divisions of the NDM for a variety of purposes.
I also met with South African Disability Alliance (SADAâs) executive
committee to discuss their involvement in an important consortium which will
ensure the involvement of persons with disabilities in the new transportation
system soon to be implemented. Accessible transport, as you will all know,
remains a major challenge. I await their response to our proposal in this
regard.
This meeting will recall that in 2007 South Africa has signed and ratified
the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and
its optional protocol. It is for that reason that I have availed myself to
officially launch the convention. This convention should be considered to be
just as important as any other human rights convention, and should be used for
practical guidance when addressing remaining inequalities.
As an example of this, I would like to refer to a recent incident which came
to light and was broadcast last month, namely forced marriages for young girls.
Like other conventions, this convention denounces harmful traditional practices
such as this one. This convention addresses such issues through specific
articles that talk to the rights of persons with disabilities to family life
which is not harmful, and specifically mentions that âonly persons with
disabilities who are of marriageable age can marry on the basis of free and
full consent.â What this tells us is that the absence of consent is nothing
less than sheer abduction.
The convention itself should not only be known to be an international law
but to be a vehicle through which the rights of persons with disabilities in
South Africa can be protected promoted and implemented. Crime and violence
prevention strategies should take the specific needs and vulnerabilities of
persons with disabilities into consideration ensuring that clear programmes are
developed and popularized in the sector to prevent crime, violence and
abuse.
The National Disability Machinery therefore should work in collaboration
with government in translating this important Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities into a well conceptualised implementation plan to
make sure we do not fail the children, women, youth and all persons with
disabilities by omitting what we are obliged to do. That would be abdication of
responsibility.
I would like to express my sincere appreciation to government, business,
civil society and everybody present here, for all the efforts documented in the
Fifteen Year Review of the OSDP which will be circulated in this meeting. The
main aim of the review conducted by the policy unit in the Presidency was among
others, to have the OSDP assess the outcome and impact of disability related
policies, programmes and projects as implemented by government since 1994.
According to this report these services have made some impact by alleviating
poverty among persons with disabilities through a range of programmes.
Despite success, however, employment remains a challenge -even in the
presence of various policy initiatives such as the Employment Equity Act and
the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act.
Government continues to strive towards an economically-enabling environment for
persons with disabilities. In this regard, a number of bilateral relationships
with foreign countries have resulted in successful pilot projects. This
includes the economic empowerment and the awareness raising projects funded by
the Swedish, Danish and Flemish Governments.
There are challenges which can not be ignored when we talk about employment
and sustainable empowerment of persons with disabilities. One of these is a
lack of disclosure, whether from a need for privacy or a fear for
discrimination. Result in inaccurate data on employment targets, low retention
of employees and a lack of reasonable accommodation. Sensitisation efforts
should inform persons with disabilities about their rights in the workplace,
should outline the benefits of disclosure and should assist HR senior managers
to provide reasonable accommodation to their empowered and increasingly
productive employees.
The two percent target of government to employ persons with disabilities,
including in senior positions, has not been met, this is serious problem
according to the Public Service Commission report. However, the job access
strategy for employment of persons with disabilities in the public sector was
adopted by Cabinet in November 2008, and was launched by the Department of
Public Service and Administration early this year. This strategy will serve as
an important guideline in effective employment and retention of persons with
disabilities in government.
Among the issues which are raised in fifteen year review by government, is
the close link between social service provision and the provision of local
economic opportunities. As you will all recall social issues include among
others health, education, housing infrastructure and other determinants of
health in particular.
Poverty and under development is one crosscutting issue which is top
priority in Governmentâs agenda. The poorest of the poor tend to be challenged
in accessing some of the services which address these social challenges,
including non communicable, communicable diseases among them HIV and AIDS. It
is for this reason that government is taking keen interest and making an effort
to make information and services more accessible to persons with disabilities.
You will recall that South Africa was one of the few countries who have an HIV
and AIDS National Strategy Programme Document 2002 to 2005 written in
Braille.
This is evidence of commitment from government to improve access to
information and services .We continue to insist that newly constructed
buildings are accessible to mobility challenged people. We must insist on
policies and programmes to particularly address the needs of women and
children.
The integration of service provision at an early age, where possible,
reduces the stigma and abuse which disabled people are often subjected to.
I have learnt that the National Disability Machinery was only established in
November 2007. Despite this, its achievements are remarkable, and for this I
would like to congratulate every individual and organization for the role they
played in promoting the equal rights and responsibilities of persons with
disabilities. With clear guidance from the office on the status of disabled
persons and the machinery, stakeholders will be in a better position to plan a
way forward to address remaining inequalities.
This will include mainstream and disability specific programmes which will
be prioritised in the coming 2009 State of the Nation Address (SONA). I have
also learnt that in the National Disability Summit held in 2008, it was
resolved that the National Disability Machinery should focus on mobilising
businesses an important step in ensuring empowerment and mainstreaming.
It is encouraging to note that some departments are starting to develop
policies and plans to address disability concerns. Encouragingly, in March this
year, I was invited to launch the Department of Provincial and Local
Governmentâs National Disability Policy Framework. Some departments, however,
lag unacceptably behind on this score. For this reason, I have written to all
Ministries, requesting that the lack of disability policy be urgently
prioritised.
South African is participating in the bureau of the convention on the rights
of persons with disabilities, as the vice president for the Africa group. It
therefore becomes imperative for us as a country to play a leading role in
piloting this convention. To this end South Africa is now ready to implement
the United Nation (UN) Convention through its reviewed integrated national
disability strategy. South Africa will submit its first report to the UN in
2010.
I would like to appeal to persons with disabilities to help reduce stigma by
declaring their disability status when seeking employment both in government
and in corporate industry. But my appeal does not end with persons with
disabilities. I also urgently appeal to all human resource senior managers to
ensure effective implementation of reasonable accommodation provision and to be
open for training on this important tool for equality.
As a word of encouragement to government officials in particular, I would
like to state that high level proposals are currently being discussed. It is
hoped that these proposals will create greater clarity about staffing of focal
points in all regional offices. Disability focal points should be provided with
open communication channels and resources. Sheltered and Protective workshops,
furthermore, should continue to be equipped with market related skills in order
to move towards independence and empowerment.
Government will continue to support these workshops, and in this regard I am
glad to learn that the promotional bags for this conference were made by a
group of persons with disabilities in rural Limpopo, who also translated the
convention into Sepedi. The government is committed to reducing literacy and
promoting literature as a custodian of South African heritage let us hope the
convention will soon be available in all our indigenous languages, as well as
in accessible formats! Let us also remember those doubly marginalised and
lesser known disabilities in order to recognise a diversity of disabilities in
our diverse country.
During this meeting, you will have an opportunity to provide ideas and
solution on the implementation of the UN Convention. A task team will also be
established to drive the implementation of the UN Convention, in partnership
with government.
It is only when we work together that we are able to achieve justice and
dignity for all. It is only in our combined efforts that we can realise our
constitutional ideal of equality. Let us hope that this meeting moves us closer
to creating an environment for the implementation of this convention. Please be
assured of governmentâs support in all your endeavours.
I thank you.
Issued by: The Presidency
20 April 2009
