People with disability fear exclusion in housing stands allocation

PEOPLE with disabilities have called for the equitable distribution of resources, opportunities and services so as to widen their capacity and contribution to socio-economic development.

Mr Valentine Nyoni, chairperson of People with Disabilities (PWDs4ED) in Matabeleland North said people with disabilities miss out on development opportunities because decision makers do not consult them before rolling out programmes.

His sentiments come at a time when people with disabilities are concerned they will likely miss out on housing stands’ allocation by the Victoria Falls City Council.

The local authority had planned to allocate 405 housing stands to home seekers who should be holders of updated waiting list documents.

Vetting was supposed to take place between Monday and tomorrow but the exercise was aborted after residents approached the High Court for an interdict.

Mr Nyoni said PWDs were concerned that the council had promised to set aside only two percent of the stands for them, which is not in tandem with dictates of the Disability Policy.

“Our position as PWDs4ED is to mobilise people to participate in socio-economic and political activities including registering as voters and voting. This came after realising that people with disabilities are not being fully recognised when it comes to opportunities.

“So we want to be represented and if possible by ourselves. We want to be involved and benefit like everyone else. We need to stand-up for ourselves politically, economically and socially which is critical because it addresses some of the challenges we face,” said Mr Nyoni.

He said many of the challenges PWDs face are to do with access to services, especially public offices that are not accessible through ramps or personnel that is well trained in sign language.

Mr Nyoni said in Victoria Falls the majority of people with disabilities are unemployed.
“We approached the council and they said their policy is that they set aside two percent of housing stands for people with disabilities.

The National Disability Policy which was signed by President Mnangagwa says people with disabilities should be given a 15 percent quota, so we wonder where our other 13 percent of stands has gone.

“The other thing is that over 90 percent of us are not working and can’t raise the required deposit, so all we want is to get our place where we can develop at our own pace”. – @ncubeleon