Date: 23/11/2004
Source: Mpumalanga Provincial Government
Title: Makwetla: Disability Achievers’ Awards
REMARKS BY PREMIER TSP MAKWETLA AT DISABILITY ACHIEVERS’ AWARDS, Secunda, 23 November 2004
Programme Director
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Thank you for inviting us to share this important occasion with you as we honour those of our people who worked tirelessly to improve the lives of people with disabilities and those who challenged adversity and rose above the hurdles many of us would have considered insurmountable.
Today’s celebration shows what people with the most significant disabilities can achieve when the human and financial resources are provided to allow them to overcome the employment barriers put in their way.
As we celebrate our achievements in the first decade of freedom and democracy, let us dip our banners in honour of those fallen heroes and heroines who led the struggle for the human rights of people with disabilities. Harry Gwala, Friday Mavuso, Maria Rantho, Phindi Mavuso, Harry Mohale and many others. Individually and as members of organisations of disabled persons, they never relented in fighting for their rights, even in the face of formidable obstacles.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud that in the past decade we have contributed to the national agenda on the emancipation of persons with disabilities. We are proud that in the past 10 years we have managed to put into place mechanisms for the empowerment and upliftment of persons with disabilities. Today more people with disabilities are afforded equal opportunities and participating in governance and administration.
Ladies and gentlemen, our celebrations today take place in the backdrop of the start of 16 Days of Activism on No Violence Against Women. Women and girls with disabilities are confronted with multiple discrimination and oppression by the society at large and also by people of their own sex.
It is also no coincidence that the majority of people with disabilities, especially women and girls, have poor access to appropriate health care facilities and educational opportunities. Youth with disabilities are less likely to access development programmes or work opportunities, compared to their peers, as they would have less access to formal education.
Today’s event also takes place a few days before the “International Day of Disabled Persons” on December 3. On this day we are called upon to reflect on issues of people with disabilities in order to ensure equal opportunities for everyone. This year’s activities must also help us to look back at our achievements during the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities.
A lot has happened since 1997 when government adopted the White Paper on an Integrated National Disability Strategy, which is premised on the social model of disability. The White Paper represents a shift in the outdated view that disability is a medical or welfare issue – a view that considered persons with disabilities as ill, different from their non-disabled peers, unable to be productive and in need of care.
Our approach focuses on the removal of barriers to equal participation and on the elimination of discrimination based on disability. It stresses that people with disabilities are an asset and a massive human resource, eager and ready to build a sustainable and stable economy.
Ladies and gentlemen, we must acknowledge that despite the giant strides we have taken, we are still far from creating that society that offers equal opportunities to all. Today a significant number of people with disabilities still live in conditions characterised by poverty, hunger and starvation. They are also vulnerable to abuse and disease, massive illiteracy, and many others social ills associated with under-development.
Last year the Policy Unit in the Presidency released a commissioned report that assesses the impact of government policies and programmes on persons with disabilities. Estimates on the number of persons with disabilities in Mpumalanga is 4.5% of the total population, which is significantly lower than the national average of that varies from 6% to 12%.
The report also found that of the 797 750 employees in the public service, there are 2007 persons with disabilities. This represents an average of 0,25% which falls far short of the 2% that needs to be achieved by 2005.
More striking is the finding that the employment of people with disabilities, apart from being confined to low levels, involving little decision-making and authority, tended to be male biased thus further marginalising women. For this situation to change it is necessary that there is careful monitoring and a genuine empowerment strategy, to ensure that people with disabilities are able to move through the ranks into more senior positions.
We must have specific policies, strategies and plans to systematically recruit and retain people with disabilities within the public service. These will help departments and administrations to focus on what they need to do, in very practical terms.
The report found that most national and provincial do not have a specific policy on disability. A number of departments and provincial administrations indicated that specific policies on disability were either in the process of being developed, or in draft form. But no timeframes were given.
We must end this discrimination. Obviously, in working towards the total liberation of people with disabilities, we have to organise all sectors in our province. This is not a task that is only facing people with disabilities. Let us all work together, in unity to create an enabling environment for people with disabilities to meet their full potential. We must remember that everyone who refuses to tolerate discrimination strengthens our cause. We all have our role to play.
All of us have a responsibility to create the basis for measures to achieve the objectives of full participation and equality for persons with disabilities. These include equal educational opportunities for all groups of disabled persons.
It also includes the creation of employment opportunities in both rural and urban areas, skills development and providing adequate support for the productivity of people with disabilities.
Ladies and gentlemen, to tonight’s winners, accept our congratulations on behalf of the government and people of Mpumalanga. You have already made us proud. Keep up the good work.
Thank you very must for affording us the privilege to address this important gathering.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
23 November 2004
Source: Mpumalanga Provincial Government
Title: Makwetla: Disability Achievers’ Awards
REMARKS BY PREMIER TSP MAKWETLA AT DISABILITY ACHIEVERS’ AWARDS, Secunda, 23 November 2004
Programme Director
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Thank you for inviting us to share this important occasion with you as we honour those of our people who worked tirelessly to improve the lives of people with disabilities and those who challenged adversity and rose above the hurdles many of us would have considered insurmountable.
Today’s celebration shows what people with the most significant disabilities can achieve when the human and financial resources are provided to allow them to overcome the employment barriers put in their way.
As we celebrate our achievements in the first decade of freedom and democracy, let us dip our banners in honour of those fallen heroes and heroines who led the struggle for the human rights of people with disabilities. Harry Gwala, Friday Mavuso, Maria Rantho, Phindi Mavuso, Harry Mohale and many others. Individually and as members of organisations of disabled persons, they never relented in fighting for their rights, even in the face of formidable obstacles.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud that in the past decade we have contributed to the national agenda on the emancipation of persons with disabilities. We are proud that in the past 10 years we have managed to put into place mechanisms for the empowerment and upliftment of persons with disabilities. Today more people with disabilities are afforded equal opportunities and participating in governance and administration.
Ladies and gentlemen, our celebrations today take place in the backdrop of the start of 16 Days of Activism on No Violence Against Women. Women and girls with disabilities are confronted with multiple discrimination and oppression by the society at large and also by people of their own sex.
It is also no coincidence that the majority of people with disabilities, especially women and girls, have poor access to appropriate health care facilities and educational opportunities. Youth with disabilities are less likely to access development programmes or work opportunities, compared to their peers, as they would have less access to formal education.
Today’s event also takes place a few days before the “International Day of Disabled Persons” on December 3. On this day we are called upon to reflect on issues of people with disabilities in order to ensure equal opportunities for everyone. This year’s activities must also help us to look back at our achievements during the African Decade of Persons with Disabilities.
A lot has happened since 1997 when government adopted the White Paper on an Integrated National Disability Strategy, which is premised on the social model of disability. The White Paper represents a shift in the outdated view that disability is a medical or welfare issue – a view that considered persons with disabilities as ill, different from their non-disabled peers, unable to be productive and in need of care.
Our approach focuses on the removal of barriers to equal participation and on the elimination of discrimination based on disability. It stresses that people with disabilities are an asset and a massive human resource, eager and ready to build a sustainable and stable economy.
Ladies and gentlemen, we must acknowledge that despite the giant strides we have taken, we are still far from creating that society that offers equal opportunities to all. Today a significant number of people with disabilities still live in conditions characterised by poverty, hunger and starvation. They are also vulnerable to abuse and disease, massive illiteracy, and many others social ills associated with under-development.
Last year the Policy Unit in the Presidency released a commissioned report that assesses the impact of government policies and programmes on persons with disabilities. Estimates on the number of persons with disabilities in Mpumalanga is 4.5% of the total population, which is significantly lower than the national average of that varies from 6% to 12%.
The report also found that of the 797 750 employees in the public service, there are 2007 persons with disabilities. This represents an average of 0,25% which falls far short of the 2% that needs to be achieved by 2005.
More striking is the finding that the employment of people with disabilities, apart from being confined to low levels, involving little decision-making and authority, tended to be male biased thus further marginalising women. For this situation to change it is necessary that there is careful monitoring and a genuine empowerment strategy, to ensure that people with disabilities are able to move through the ranks into more senior positions.
We must have specific policies, strategies and plans to systematically recruit and retain people with disabilities within the public service. These will help departments and administrations to focus on what they need to do, in very practical terms.
The report found that most national and provincial do not have a specific policy on disability. A number of departments and provincial administrations indicated that specific policies on disability were either in the process of being developed, or in draft form. But no timeframes were given.
We must end this discrimination. Obviously, in working towards the total liberation of people with disabilities, we have to organise all sectors in our province. This is not a task that is only facing people with disabilities. Let us all work together, in unity to create an enabling environment for people with disabilities to meet their full potential. We must remember that everyone who refuses to tolerate discrimination strengthens our cause. We all have our role to play.
All of us have a responsibility to create the basis for measures to achieve the objectives of full participation and equality for persons with disabilities. These include equal educational opportunities for all groups of disabled persons.
It also includes the creation of employment opportunities in both rural and urban areas, skills development and providing adequate support for the productivity of people with disabilities.
Ladies and gentlemen, to tonight’s winners, accept our congratulations on behalf of the government and people of Mpumalanga. You have already made us proud. Keep up the good work.
Thank you very must for affording us the privilege to address this important gathering.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
23 November 2004
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