Keynote address by the Minister of Labour , Mildred Oliphant on the occassion of the Sheltered Employment Factories’ open day in East London
Programme Director
Deputy Minister of Labour: Inkosi Phathekile Holomisa
MEC for Economic Development; Environmental Affairs and Tourism - Hon Sakhumzi Somyo.
MEC for Health; Hon Dr. Phumza Dyantyi
Director General of the Department of Labour; Mr Thobile Lamati
Government Officials here present
Distinguished Guests
Members of the Media
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good Day, Molweni, Sanibonani!!!
I am indeed very pleased that through the grace of God, we all made it to this function this morning. It is amazing that, without knowing whether or not we will wake up the next day, we nevertheless plan for the next day. We planned for today many weeks ago despite not knowing whether we will still be here when today comes. That’s the power of faith.
Sheltered Employment Factories have been around since the early nineteen forties, and we have been examining various options of how to transform these facilities into assets that could made a difference in our society. We believe that after long and hard soul searching, we have finally found the formula that could make these factories real game-changers.
Ladies and Gentlemen; today we are here to do at least four things;
One, to demonstrate that this government cares about people with disabilities; Two, to show-case Sheltered Employment Factories and what they are capable of doing. Three, to call on you to support this noble initiative by buying the products we produce;
And Four, to formally launch Protected Employment Enterprises and share with you our ambitions for these entities going forward.
It is also not by accident that we chose to do this in this province. Provincial profiles show that Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal have the highest proportions of unemployed persons with disabilities (19, 1% in the Eastern Cape and 15, 3% in KwaZulu-Natal). This means that your chances of getting a job if you have a disability in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal are much slimmer than elsewhere in the country.
Ladies and Gentlemen: The integration of people with disabilities in the world of work should not only be a concern for a few, but being able to participate in the labour market is a condition for social equality. Generally speaking, most companies do not provide enough jobs and training positions for people with disabilities.
This may be explained by a number of different reasons, but the fear of not making any economical profit is often the main reason explaining the companies’ passivity in this regard. Of course, the advantages are not always visible at first glance. However, once the conditions have been established, nothing stands in the way of a successful integration.
Many employers still have prejudices towards employing people with disabilities. When recruiting, they often give too much importance to their own values, and let themselves be guided by their sympathy for people who are similar to themselves. Unconsciously, the way people are or dress may exert an influence on the recruiter.
Applicants, who because of certain particularities do not correspond to the majority, are often excluded from the recruiting process at an early stage. For companies who apply the approach to diversity, however, it is exactly such people who are very important. Generally, people with disabilities are more capable than what most people expect – if they only have a chance to show their skills. The employers and the management should focus on the "abilities" instead of "disabilities" of their employees.
There is currently low labour market absorption of persons with disabilities. The degree of difficulty is related to economic participation, with increased difficulty being associated with a decrease in labour market participation. The severity of difficulty greatly impacts on economic outcomes pertaining to employment, and gender are affected differently. For example Females with disabilities are more marginalised in terms of employment compared to their male counterparts.
Linked to employment is income, which in turn determines the welfare of individuals and their households. Generally, persons without disabilities earn higher incomes than persons with disabilities. Among persons with disabilities, disability severity and type of disability, determines one's income. Among persons with disabilities, males earn double what females earn, regardless of the degree of difficulty. All our efforts resonate with the global prescripts.
Ladies and Gentlemen, on 13 December 2006, the United Nations formally agreed on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the first human rights treaty of the 21st century, to protect and enhance the rights and opportunities of the world's estimated 650 million people with disabilities.
Over 100 of the 147 signatories had ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Countries that signed the convention are required to adopt national laws, and remove old ones, so that persons with disabilities will, for example, have equal rights to education, employment, and cultural life; to the right to own and inherit property; not to be discriminated against in marriage and not to be unwilling subjects in medical experiments.
Continental efforts have included the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which came into effect in 1986 as one of the first acknowledgements of the special needs and protections of people with disabilities. In 1999, the African Charter expanded to include special measures protecting the rights of children with disabilities. Recognising and addressing the rights of individuals with disabilities can still prove difficult because the characteristics of those living with disabilities are so diverse.
South Africa’s history regarding disability and equality has been shaped by its social and political past. In comparison to other African Nations, South Africa was slow to get off the mark in addressing the rights of people with disabilities.
The first free elections in 1994 ushered the new beginning and a new hope for all the people of South Africa. Enshrined in our Constitution is the right of every citizen to security, social services and the ability to support him or herself. In pursuit of these noble goals, government has put in place several pieces of legislation addressing disability rights, thus promoting the participation in society of marginalised groups.
These include, for example, the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act of 2000, which states that “neither the state nor any person may unfairly discriminate against any person on the ground of disability,” the South African Schools Act of 1996, which provides for the inclusion in the education system of learners with special educational needs.
The Employment Equity Act, which states “No person may unfairly discriminate, directly or indirectly, against an employee in any employment policy or practice, on one or more grounds including race, gender, pregnancy, marital status, family responsibility, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, HIV status, conscience, belief, political opinion, culture, language, and birth.
It is instructive to note that South Africa became one of the first developing nations to provide disability grants and assistance for those that became too incapacitated to work. Indeed a Great achievement for a young democracy like ours. Despite these efforts South Africa still faces the same issues as other nations in addressing the needs of people with disabilities, especially ramping up the pace of transformation.
All the legislative instruments are in place, the will and commitment seems to be the culprit in terms of the slow pace of achieving the desired results at desired levels.
South Africa has done quite a bit to raise awareness about the plight of the disabled, and the need to protect their rights as equal citizens. However, the fact remains that we are not where we want to be in terms of fully translating our stated policy objectives into actual change in the people with disability’s lives.
Programme Director; The Sheltered Employment factories concept was introduced towards the end of the 2nd World War to cater for ex-service men who could not be integrated into the formal labour market due to a range of afflictions suffered from the war. They were meant to provide formal employment to these ex-service men outside the formal labour market. In order to sustain these factories, all government departments, particularly health and education, had to source their furniture and hospital linen from these factories.
During this period, the National footprint of the factories was found in seven of the nine provinces. For many years the factories provided high numbers of employment opportunities to people with a range of disabilities. However this self-engineered social arrangement, excluded thousands of other South Africans who were either victims of the 2nd World War, or alternatively had disabilities from birth. These factories were then absorbed by the Department of Labour in 1994.
The first challenge was to transform these factories to cater for all deserving South Africans instead of it being an exclusive club of white ex-service men. The first task was to create the legal framework for the Factories, expand its footprint to all provinces in the country and to diversify its product mix for purposes of sustainability.
Whilst we will continue to carry the range of products that we have, we will be exploring ways to diversify the portfolio and the product mix. Introducing Assistive devices manufacturing capacity in the factories is high up on the agenda of things that are being considered.
This will no doubt open up new and high quality employment opportunities for people with disabilities and possibly, take the profile of the factories to a different level.
Programme Director; Assistive devices and technologies such as wheelchairs, prostheses, mobility aides, hearing aids, visual aids, and specialized computer software and hardware increase mobility, hearing, vision and communication capacities. With the aid of these technologies, people with a loss in functioning, are better able to live independently and participate in their societies. However, in many low-income and middle-income countries, only 5% to 15% of people who require assistive devices and technologies have access to them.
The World Health Organisation calls on the States to promote access to assistive devices and technologies at an affordable cost and facilitate training for people with disabilities and professionals and staff working in habilitation and rehabilitation services.
Western companies are charging, on average, well over 1 million Rand, or more than 80,000 US Dollars for the basic functionality and dignity of a myo-electric prosthesis. These devices can be manufactured at a fraction of this price by our very own Sheltered Employment Factories in a couple of years’ time.
As you may be aware that most of the assistive devices that are available in South Africa, are imported; takes long to reach the intended user; and are often not adaptable to our conditions.
Therefore if we succeed in the pilot to build capacity in the Sheltered Employment Factories to manufacture these devices, the long lead-times of producing the devices will be reduced; devices will reach the intended users on time and will be adaptable to the user conditions.
Whilst Sheltered Employment Factories is not a new concept in South Africa, there is a lot that has changed or are in the process of changing. The Modus Operandi of the Sheltered Employment Factories of the past was an exclusive preserve of white ex-servicemen who could not be absorbed in the formal labour market setting. The Public Employment Services Act which was promulgated recently creates a transformative legislative framework which brings this project in line with the national imperatives and this is the new Modus Operandi for our Sheltered Employment Factories.
The Department of Labour through Protected Employment Enterprises wants to become a leader in providing decent employment schemes to people with disabilities including the youth and women.
The factories are a big part of active labour market interventions and a much needed catalyst for creating employment opportunities.
Ladies and Gentlemen; I hereby formally launch the Revamped Protected Employment Enterprises and together let’s move South Africa Forward.
I thank you
