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Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, Matabeleland South Bureau Chief
GOVERNMENT departments and key service providers have been urged to observe the disability policy launched by President Mnangagwa last year through ensuring that their services are accessible and inclusive of people with disability.
The National Disability Policy which was launched in June last year seeks to address the marginalisation and discrimination of persons with disabilities in Zimbabwe and empower them to improve their quality of life.
According to the policy, facilities such as ramps, for those on wheelchairs and Braille for the visually impaired among other disabled friendly facilities must be put in place in public places. President Mnangagwa has also created the Department of Disability Affairs under the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare and set aside funds to cater for the welfare of people with disability.
Government through the Department of Disability Affairs has also distributed assistive devices to people with disability across the nation and the programme is still ongoing.
On Saturday the Department of Disability handed over 10 wheelchairs to people with disability in Gwanda.
Speaking during a meeting with stakeholders from Gwanda on Saturday, where he also handed over the wheelchairs, Director in the Office of the Special Advisor on Disability Issues in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Mr Macnon Chirinzepi said Government has made significant efforts to promote inclusion of people with disability but more had to be done in implementation by different stakeholders.
“The Second Republic has made significant efforts in ensuring inclusivity through providing necessary amenities and assistive devices. President Mnangagwa also launched the National Disability Policy which seeks to address the marginalisation and discrimination of persons with disabilities in the country. While Government has made these efforts, the challenge is that some departments of service providers are not implementing this policy,” he said.
“The policy clearly states what needs to be done but some stakeholders are not following it. For example, when it comes to issues of allocation of stands, councils will say they follow their acts and not the policy. Some stakeholders don’t understand the importance of this policy.”
Also speaking during the same event, Matabeleland South Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Abedinico Ncube urged stakeholders to embrace the vision of the Second Republic of inclusive development. He said it defeats the purpose if people with disability receive wheelchairs but cannot use them to move around as some buildings do not have ramps.
Minister Ncube said the hearing impaired and speech impaired were still struggling to access services because of language barriers.
The Department of Disability Affairs recently handed over a hundred assistive devices inclusive of wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, mobility aids and orthotic devices to people with disabilities from Insiza District as part of Government’s fulfilment of its philosophy of leaving no one and no place behind.
The Second Republic is leaving no stone unturned in its quest for inclusive development.
The National Disability Policy is part of Government efforts to ensure the development path and the National Development Strategy 1 (NSD1) is disability-inclusive. President Mnangagwa said people with disability should not be viewed as charity cases but as individuals capable contributing to the development of the country like any other citizen.
The policy is a culmination of consultation between Government and representatives of persons living with disabilities that began when President Mnangagwa met them in 2018.
It is meant to ensure that disability programmes are mainstreamed in Government institutions and activities as required by the Constitution. The policy was crafted to assist in domestication provisions of the Convention on the Rights or Persons with Disabilities which Zimbabwe ratified. It is estimated that about 1,4 million people have some form of disability in Zimbabwe.
Zimbabwe was one of the first countries to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2013 and remain one of the few countries in Africa with legislation that specifically caters for people with disabilities. — @DubeMatutu
Online Reporter