Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of persons with disabilities, Ms Theresia Degener,
Rapporteur on South Africa, Mr. Danlami Basharu,
Distinguished members of the Committee.

I am honoured to lead the South African delegation for the presentation of the Baseline Country Report to the Committee.

So important is the work of this Committee for South Africa, that my Government saw it fit that the South African delegation comprise of the Ministries of Social Development; Basic Education; Health; Justice and Correctional Services; Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation; and International Relations and Cooperation, Statistics South Africa, as well as the Administrative Head of the Gauteng Province, Ms Phindile Baleni, within the context of the Life Esidimeni tragedy, and a member of the Family Committee, Ms Christine Nxumalo, who has been working with government in the aftermath of the tragedy.

Before I get into the substance of our work, let me pay homage to the substantial role organisations of and for persons with disabilities continue to play in ensuring that government accounts for the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In the room with us we have the Chairperson of the South African Disability Alliance, Ms Marina Clarke; the Secretary General of the Disabled Children’s Action Group, Mr Mbusi Nzimande; as well as Mr Kamohelo Rantsane, a young self-advocate from a local disabled people organisation in Orange Farm, South of Johannesburg.

Chairperson,

First and foremost, South Africa wishes to convey its sincere appreciation to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities for the opportunity to interact on the necessary national interventions in the promotion, protection and fulfilment of the rights of persons with disabilities as equal citizens.

This review takes place in the context of the centenary of our late icons, Tata Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela and Mama Albertina Sisulu. U Tata Nelson Mandela, the founding father of our democracy, laid the foundation of our approach for a democratic disability inclusive society, rooted in the respect for human rights for all.

Our Constitution is the source of this approach, laying out a set of socio-economic rights that guarantee all South Africans a life lived in dignity, and places an obligation on the State to ensure the progressive realisation of socio-economic rights. Chapter 10 of the Constitution prescribes the value system that must underwrite public service delivery, inclusive of equal access and participatory governance.

These socio-economic rights enshrined in our Constitution are justiciable and can be claimed by our people. Our judiciary has demonstrated its independence on a number of occasions with watershed judgements on these rights, inclusive of the rights of persons with disabilities. We owe Mama Sisulu an infinite debt of gratitude for fighting for these rights.

Chapters 9 and 10 of the Constitution establish independent institutions, accountable to Parliament, to support Constitutional democracy. They have – and I quote – “the power to investigate and report on the observance of human rights and take steps to secure appropriate redress where human rights have been violated.” (Close quote) The Constitution furthermore stipulates that – and I quote – “These institutions are independent, and subject only to the Constitution and the law, and they must be impartial and must exercise their powers and perform their functions without fear, favour or prejudice”. (Close Quote)

Chairperson,

The National Development Plan, which is aligned to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, further articulates our roadmap to human rights based inclusive development.

It is important to remember that within the apartheid system hierarchy, persons with disabilities had no rights, no entitlements and no recourse. This was compounded by race, gender, class and type of impairment.

We acknowledge that during the first twenty years of democracy, as we started dismantling historic prejudice and disability discrimination, some groups were affirmed faster than others.

Chairperson,

Sadly, as a consequence thereof, in the recent past, we have experienced the tragic preventable loss of life of persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities during the implementation of the Gauteng Mental Health Marathon Project, commonly referred to as the Life Esidimeni tragedy.

When the details of the deaths came to light, the Health Ombud was immediately tasked to launch an in-depth investigation. The Gauteng Mental Health Marathon Project was immediately discontinued after release of the report, which made definitive findings and allocated responsibilities.

All recommendations were accepted and the arbitration process culminated in the awarding of Constitutional damages to affected families and individuals. The government is committed to ensure that all individuals, including officials, found guilty of malfeasance in this tragedy, face the full consequence and might of the law.

Chairperson,

The South African Government has, since the ratification of the Convention in 2007, and within the confines of a challenging economic climate and competition for resources, made steady progress towards the realisation of the rights of persons with disabilities, particularly in the following areas:

A comprehensive disability-disaggregation of the National Development Plan was concluded in 2014 to inform disability inclusive planning;

A gap in disability inclusive budgeting was addressed by concluding the first phase of a research study into the Elements of Cost of Disability to South African Households in 2015. The findings of the study are currently informing social protection reforms;

These two research studies contributed to the finalisation of the updated national disability rights policy – The White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Implementation Matrix – in 2015. The policy’s emphasis is on embedding disability inclusion within South Africa’s government-wide regulatory, planning, resourcing, programming and reporting systems. It therefore constitutes an important step towards the process of domesticating the Convention;

Statistics South Africa established the Disability Statistics Advisory Committee in 2017 to strengthen disability disaggregation within existing and new statistical tools and interpretation of data, with the participation of civil society.

South Africa is developing a Disability Inequality Index to track progress made in reducing inequality between persons with and those without disabilities, disaggregated by gender. We are currently grappling with refining the measurement of disability across administrative and survey collected data. The Index has been presented to the Washington Group on Disability Statistics for technical advice and validation.

Chairperson,

We acknowledge the centrality of education as an empowering and liberating tool for all people everywhere. Our constitutional imperative is that one child left behind and excluded, is one child too many.

Some of the highlights that have been achieved since the ratification of the Convention, not-withstanding the significant challenges that remain, include the following:

There are currently more children with disabilities enrolled in ordinary schools than in special schools;

A total of 814 ordinary schools are being transformed into full-service schools, which provide high levels of support to learners with disabilities;

South African Sign Language was introduced as a language of instruction in all schools for Deaf learners in 2015;

To date, 4,215 officials and 81,076 teachers from 80% of primary schools have been trained to accelerate implementation of the Screening, Identification, Assessment and Support Policy.

The Policy directs planning, budgeting and programming of reasonable accommodation support to learners with disabilities, regardless of placement.

Financially qualifying students with disabilities enrolled in public post-school education institutions, study for free and have access to a wide range of reasonable accommodation support measures.

Chairperson,

One of the most significant challenges remains the unacceptable levels of violence, abuse and periodic neglect that learners with disabilities are exposed to in some of the boarding facilities at special schools. Measures are being put in place to remedy the situation.

There are a number of initiatives currently under way which we believe will further strengthen and accelerate implementation of the Convention:

A Report on Assisted-Decision Making has been concluded by the South African Law Reform Commission. This represents the start of a robust and inclusive public dialogue to enable government to comply with the Convention.

Government has committed that the next Medium Term Strategic Framework (2020–2025) will ensure equitable programmatic disability inclusion targets. These will embed disability mainstreaming measures in all administrative systems across sectors as set out in the Implementation Matrix of the White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

We are finalising a series of National Frameworks to guide implementation of the disability rights policy and to inform domestication of the Convention. These include:

The National Strategic Framework on Universal Access and Design;

The National Strategic Framework on Reasonable Accommodation for Persons with Disabilities;

The National Strategic Framework on Self-Representation by Persons with Disabilities;

The National Strategic Framework on Disability Rights Awareness Campaigns;

We are in the process of ratifying the African Union Protocol on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which underscores our resolve and commitment in the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Chairperson,

South Africa continues to benefit from international development cooperation to sharpen our interventions locally, as well as enabling us to play our part in contributing to the disability rights agenda on the African continent. We are particularly thankful for the support from United Nations programmes and agencies that has assisted us in finalising our disability rights policy and supporting instruments; as well as the experience gained during the development of the Africa Toolkit on Disability.

As we continue the legacy of our struggle heroes and heroines, we are mindful of the values they embedded in our national fabric, as our very first democratic President, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela said:

“It is for us to adapt our understanding of a common humanity; to learn of the richness of how human life is diverse; to recognise the presence of disability in our human midst as an enrichment of our diversity”.

In conclusion Chairperson, as a delegation, we appreciate the advisory value of this Committee on interpretation and implementation of the Convention, and we look forward to a constructive engagement with the Committee.

I thank you.