By Hon Alexia Ncube, MP Tuesday, 7 March 2006
Hon Speaker, Hon Members, having listened to the motivation of the motion by Hon Ulenga I support the motion and thank Hon Ulenga for bringing up the issue of affirmative action to the attention of this August House.
To start my contribution on this very important motion, allow me to acknowledge and thank the Hon Speaker and the rest of the members of this House for a very affirmative action that was taken by building a ramp at the entrance to the Parliament building, which is now complete and provides access to the Parliament for people with disabilities and other elderly members of our society. However, we are still awaiting the completion of the elevator. In the same vein, I also thank the President, His Excellency, comrade Hifikepunye Pohamba for putting disability issues in the limelight of public debate and scrutiny, though some of the members of our society are still hostile towards people with disabilities and treat us like fragile and special people, but we have only different needs.
Hon Speaker, Hon Members, I believe that Affirmative Action law has been put in place by the elected representatives of the people therefore it is of utmost importance that we make sure that it is complied with and implemented in all its forms – both in the private and public sector.
Before I continue with my contributions on this motion, I would like to make a few comments on Hon Venaani’s statement during his contribution to the said motion. I sincerely acknowledge the positive contribution of the honourable member, though the issue of parents hiding their children with disabilities is a reality and a big concern and I share the same sentiment.
However, organisations of people with disabilities are doing their level best to address these issues, but also know that the barriers which excluded the children with disabilities from schooling opportunities are societal attitudes which we are also still dealing with. This in turn put them on the sad receiving end of affirmative action not implied to them. It is therefore important that the issue of accessibility in schools be addressed, because most of our schools and other educational institutions are not disability friendly.
Further, it should be taken into cognisance that disability is a human rights and development issue and that it is cross-cutting. Therefore it is the responsibility of all social entities to make sure that there are policies that are catering for disability issues within their structural set-up and not only point at the Government for every single issue. For example, Hon Venaani’s DTA party, if at all it has to govern in the future, I urge you to have disability-focused policies and if you don’t have them already, develop them.
Now to continue with my contribution, the lack of skills is making it difficult for the vast majority of people with disabilities to keep or find jobs as provided for the by the Affirmative Action Act, which is meant to correct this imbalance in our nation whereby currently adults with disabilities have to be catered for and protected by this legislation. However, I am quite delighted to see that disability is being highlighted and redressed and that this law protects people with disabilities who are suffering many prejudices by virtue of their disabilities. The only problem is that we have to assure conformity to the Act.
Hon Speaker, Hon Members, black women with disabilities face much discrimination. Firstly, for being black, secondly, for being a woman and thirdly for having a disability. However, never mind about that, I think that the short-term problem relates to helping the job-seeking adults and youth with disabilities to find occupation of any kind in the fields that suit their capacities and capabilities. That will give them the means to be self-sufficient and not necessarily being regarded as charity cases.
The long-term challenge, however, is to ensure that no children with disabilities are left out of school on the basis of disabilities and that colleges and other higher learning institutions accommodate adults who would like to pursue their studies to give them skills for living independent lives in the future.
In conclusion Hon Speaker, Hon Members, I would like to congratulate the employment Equity Commission for appointing representatives of people with disabilities as members of the commission. However, the office of the Employment Equity Commission is inaccessible for people with disabilities and that is not affirmative and thus dealt with accordingly.
I thank you.