WINDHOEK- Head of Research and Development at the National Disability Council of Namibia (NDCN) Tjiueza Tjombumbi bemoaned the omission of sign language interpreter at the 2nd national land conference.
He said this in fact meant the deaf were not participants of this conference, scheduled to end today.
Tjombumbi made his comment in the presence of President Hage Geingob and Vice-President Nangolo Mbumba on Wednesday during his presentation on behalf of NDCN.
“Brailling and printing in large print, the information for the visually impaired and provision of sign language interpreters at gathering such as this one is vital,” he said.
He said the NDCN is also very concerned about lack of consolation of the disabled by the Ministry of Land Reform.
“The Ministry of Land Reform did not consult the disability sector in preparation for this conference, hence its report is not up to date,” he said.
“There are some misrepresentations of facts in its current report. There is no achievement in regard to persons with disabilities in the ministry’s report,” he added.
Tjombumbi also called for the reclassification of persons with disabilities as disadvantaged communities such as the San community, Ovahimba and Ovatue, to be uplifted to the same status as women and youth.
“What is good for women and youth is equally good for persons with disabilities,” he said, adding that persons with disabilities are sometimes doubly or triply discriminated.
He said, for example, a black woman with disability is discriminated against first as a woman, secondly as racially disadvantaged (black) and thirdly as a person with disability.
He also urged government to ensure self-representation of persons with disabilities on all structures and platforms related to land in both communal, commercial, urban and resettlement programmes.
He said this self-representation should be done through government institutions such as NDCN, as prescribed by its enabling Act No26 of 2006.
Tjombumbi also wants all government bodies to consult government structures that directly administer disability matters such as the disability department in the presidency and the NDCN.
NDCN represents about 100 000 persons with disabilities in Namibia as per 2011 Housing and Population Census and more than 300 000 affected persons, which include families and communities they live in, totalling the representation of the interest population to more than 400 000 Namibian population.