Back to Index

Disability legislation under review - Special Advisor
National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH)
September 16, 2008

The government is working flat out to review several pieces of legislation pertaining to disability, including the Disabled Persons Act (DPA), the Mental Health Act, and the constitution, to align them with the Convention on the rights of people with disabilities, in order for it to sign this convention, and pave the way for enhanced participation in the decision making processes of the country at all levels by people with disabilities.

This was disclosed by the Special Advisor on Disability and Rehabilitation to the President and Cabinet, Retired Brigadier General Felix Muchemwa, in a wide-ranging interview with the NASCOH News.

'It is difficult to make decisions where there is a policy vacuum. Our laws, including the DPA, the constitution and the Mental Health need to be reviewed to accommodate the Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities first before the government can sign the convention. As soon as our laws are in place, and are complying with the convention, the government will waste no time in signing the convention,'

'I want to reassure PWDs that the government is not resisting but wants to make sure that our laws are appropriate to the convention. What we have been using so far is the Human Rights Charter,' said Dr Muchemwa.

The Special Advisor said that once the convention had been signed, whatever decisions had to be made regarding people with disabilities, be it in relation to employment, education, health, sport and recreation e.t.c. would be made in reference to the Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. This would make the work of the government, non- governmental organisations, Community Based Rehabilitation Organisations, Disabled People's Organisations, People with Disabilities (PWDs), civil society and other key players in the disability arena easier, as they will be guided by the framework of the convention to make wide ranging decisions on disability and disability inclusion.

Dr Muchemwa has no doubt that the key to disability inclusion lies in the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities: 'Every decision maker knows that decision making has to start right at the beginning and this begins with articulating your vision. Vision symbolises policy direction, vision becomes the policy guideline. For people with disabilities, the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities provides the policy direction. Once vision and policy is defined, the decision maker then has to define the goals and objectives within a relevant mission statement. What remains is for people with disabilities to define their goals and objectives within the framework of the convention and then make a decision on how to achieve them.'

He observed that the convention also allowed for easier policy decision making: 'Decisions can then be based within the convention, and this makes policy decisions easier as the convention lays out, almost article by article, what should be done in crucial areas such as education, rights, employment, social protection and a host of other areas. This makes decisions easier for us as policy makers and also for all the players in the disability field.'

The Special Advisor noted that the period up to 1980 was a period of no decisions by people with disabilities in Zimbabwe as the rights of PWDs were not clearly defined. The political framework or mission statement of PWDs was purely of charity, with PWDs being virtually on the receiving end, where they could beg individually or collectively. As a result, no decisions could be made by PWDs.

Dr Muchemwa says this all changed after independence: 'At independence the bill of rights within our constitution did bring some power to the PWDs but until 1992, there was no legal statute to enforce the rights of PWDs. The DPA of 1992 recognised certain rights of PWDs in particular the right to access especially with regard to public buildings, shopping centres and parking areas. However, the DPA fell short of making sure that the rights of PWDs were well enshrined in our laws and included not only access to public places, but access to fundamental rights and freedoms like education, health and employment. It was manifestly not complete.'

The Special Advisor also pointed out that the current disability set up still recognises the charity model of policy and emphasised more on receiving of goods and services by PWDs rather than making them make their own decisions. He, however, added that this was a situation that was peculiar to Zimbabwe. In many respects, Zimbabwe was far ahead of most African countries because of the early inception of the DPA which had already advanced into the rights of PWDs.

He noted that central to the issue of decision making was the principle of empowerment: 'Empowerment means more than just giving our DPOs working places or tools to make certain things - empowerment means carrying out medical surgical corrective measures on children with disabilities in early childhood to minimise the disability. It means educating the child through primary and secondary education. I am glad that a number of PWDs in universities are not paying fees as education is a tool which can be used to overcome disability.'

Dr Muchemwa noted that PWDs needed to be empowered much more than the able-bodied populace, which had access to all the fundamental rights and freedoms that are denied them.

'People with disabilities need to be empowered more than the able-bodied. If youth and women are asking for empowerment, what about people with disabilities? PWDs should now understand the empowerment issue and claim more than the able-bodied. The government is prepared to go along with the convention.'

The Special Advisor noted that the government had already started making concessions on the issue of assisted voting in line with the convention although it has yet to sign the convention.

Visit the NASCOH fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP