10 February 2004
In April 1994 many South Africans stood very patiently in very long queues, patiently and very excited because many for the first time they were going to vote for a government of their choice.
Amongst those were young people, grannies, in their 80's & 90's, some were registering their very first and possibly last vote.
There were also those who had been carried in wheelbarrows and some in their collapsing wheelchairs and their old unserviced crutches. They also for the first time became part of a society yearning for freedom. An overwhelming majority of South Africans had been united by the ANC in the struggle to work together to construct a caring society.
Today, Mr President, as we near the ten year celebration of our democracy we can look back with pride and say that in deed we are winning in creating that caring society. We will also not hesitate to accept that we still have to go a long way to arrive at our ideal destination, where there will be better life for all.
We can look back with pride because today, we have a constitution that makes all equal before the law, that gives us all a right to utilize opportunities that have come with this freedom.
Mr President, in your state of the nation address you alluded to the fact that there are still challenges of addressing the persisting racial and gender inequalities as well as the disempowerment of our youth, people with disabilities and proper care for children and the elderly. I agree with you Mr President, but also want to demonstrate that the ANC has worked hard and still continues to work hard to ensure an enabling environment for all.
Today in this debate, I would like to focus my speech on work that the ANC has done to address some of the disempowerment you refer to. I will focus on the work that has been done to address the disempowerment of disabled persons in our country.
It is perhaps important to reflect back and illustrate how this disempowerment came about.
Firstly, the policies that were there were disability exclusive. Secondly The approach was one of welfare. Disabled people had no access To education. A few lucky ones had access to schools which channeled Them to jobs such as typists and switchboard operators. There was no National Rehabilitation Policy, there were no employment opportunities other than sheltered workshops. Professional were regarded as specialist on disabilities. The 1994 elections and the triumph of the ANC came with radical changes.
Today, a legislative framework is in place to ensure that people with disabilities benefit from the freedom that came with the 1994 elections. I will highlight some of the important work that has been done in this area. In the area of health, there is a white paper on the transformation of health services as well as the national rehabilitation policy of 2000. There is a shift in the provision of health services towards disabled people.
Programmes that have specific bearing on disabled people include:
The challenge however, is to ensure that there is change of attitudes of the civil servant, that they serve with dignity, respect and commitment. We need to ensure that at provincial level there is a similar interpretation of the policy and that more resources are allocated. We need to ensure that we strengthen the partnerships between government and the communities and empower those NGOs that continue to play their vital role in our communities. An example of such a partnership is the Community Based Rehabilitation Project in Mpumalanga, which is a partnership between DPSA (Disabled People South Africa) and the Mpumalanga Provincial Government.
The Project started as a Pilot Project and has since graduated to a fully fledged project. We believe that some lessons can be learned from this project and hope that it could be introduced in other provinces. Through this project disabled people are involved in assistive device distribution and identification of backlogs. They are also trained in peer counseling. The project is also used as an empowerment tool in informing disabled people about government services and assisting in accessing such services.
In the area of education a national policy on inclusive education has been gazetted. A National Cordinating Committee for inclusive education was established as well as district institutional level support teams for disability issues. An audit of special schools to be used as resource centres has been done. The challenge is to speed up the implementation process, evaluation of the pilot projects and that the resource centres must assume their new roles as soon as possible. We need to do this to ensure that no disabled child is left out of the system because the schools are not ready to take them. In the are of employment there is the LRA, the EEA as well as the Skill Development Act. All these pieces of legislation ensure that there is no discrimination on the basis of disability and that disabled people have access to skills development through setas. A Code of Good Practice on the employment of disabled persons is in place to assist the employees to understand the disability issues that affect employment. We also see few disabled people make use of the Preferential Procurement Act and starting their own companies. We need to remove obstacles such as access to finance so we can see more disabled entrepreneurs.
In the area of Social Development an assessment tool has been put in place to ensure that more disabled people that qualify for grants receive their grants speedily.
Disabled people also have access to housing through the housing subsidy implementation manual and housing code which include disability variation on subsidy. There is however, a need to improve the implementation of these policies. (Free State example)
Mr President, there are still a number of challenges facing the sector such as access to courts because of the shortage of sign language interpreters, access to public transport and public buildings. We believe that the expanded Public Works programme can go a long way in addressing some of these accessibility problems. We also believe that we need to empower Disabled Peoples Organisations so that they can continue to play their role in the communities. The adoption of the INDS by the ANC led government was a great step towards success. The INDS advocates for a social model on disability which is a human rights approach placing emphasis on the short-comings of society and its inability to accommodate diversity.
The ANC has also demonstrated its commitment by ensuring that disabled people are represented in a number of government institutions such as SAHRC, Gender, Youth, the SABC Board, etc. The ANC has also ensured that disabled people have direct representation in the legislatures as well as the local councils. We finally want to recognize the role that you Mr President you continue to play, not only in your capacity as a patron of the disability movement in South Africa, but also in your capacity as a leader in Africa. This is demonstrated by the confidence that the countries of Africa have in South Africa when they asked that South Africa house the African Decade on Disability Secretariat.
We hope that this will extend to NEPAD and ensure that disabled people in Africa benefit from the poverty alleviation programmes of NEPAD. This is, very critical because of the relationship between poverty and disability. We also hope that through your leadership disabled people will be able to participate in the AU and other relevant institutions in Africa that support democracy.
In conclusion Mr President I want to steal from where you quote President Mandela when he said
" The government I have to honour to lead and dare say the masses who elected us to serve in this role, are inspired by the single vision of creating a people-centred society. Accordingly, the purpose that will drive this government shall be the expansion of the frontiers of human fulfillment, the continuous extension of the frontiers of freedom. The acid test of the legitimacy of the prgrammes we elaborate, the government institutions we create, the legislation we adopt, must be whether they serve these objectives."
I would like to urge all disabled people to go out in their numbers and defend our democracy by voting very consciously.
I thank you.