Besides some of the most progressive laws aimed at advancing the interests of the people living with disabilities, South Africa is still lagging when it comes to implementing some of these legislative frameworks.

According to Statistics South Africa, persons with severe disabilities experience difficulty in accessing education and employment opportunities, while households headed by persons with disabilities were found to have less access to basic services compared to households headed by persons without disabilities.

The statistics also reveal that there are disparities in terms of access to assistive devices across population groups and geography.

At the recent C20 South Africa Launch, which has mobilised 14 working groups to generate actionable policy considerations ahead of the G20 Summit, Sikelelwa Alex Msitshana, founder of the Deaf Empowerment Firm and chairperson of the National Council for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD), highlighted ongoing challenges.

“We have come together to try and make sure the voice of people with disabilities is heard. People living with disabilities are still lacking in many respects, even though South Africa is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We have wonderful policies that are aimed at protecting the rights of persons with disabilities, but implementation is still lacking.

“In all of that, there is a need to address issues faced by people living with disabilities. We are looking at inclusive education. We are saying early childhood development for people with disabilities should be prioritised early enough so that they can receive the care they need and be able to go to school and learn from an early age,” she said.

Msitshana, speaking on the sidelines of the three-day C20 South Africa launch on Monday, also stressed the importance of establishing Early Child Development (ECD) structures for people living with disability, saying this will help bring about an early start to young children with various disabilities, who are sometimes not catered for within the existing education system.

“There are issues of employment that are affecting our young people. We are advocating for inclusive employment practices. Far too often, employers are still afraid to employ people living with disabilities and take in young people living with disabilities. This is more a factor of fear than anything. The programmes that we are driving are aimed at sensitising employers that there should not be a problem in employing someone living with a disability,” she stated.

Her outcry comes just hours after Deputy Minister of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, called on civil society organisations represented at the C20 South Africa launch in Sandton to make sure their voices are heard.

Letsike, who delivered her message virtually directed at women, children, and persons with disability, said no one should be left behind in ensuring that South Africa’s hosting of the G20 Summit later this year is a success.

“The disability inclusion stream and all these working streams are not intended to be for a box-ticking exercise as we believe that those closest to the pain must be the closest to power, and the C20 South Africa must bring solutions that bring an integrated response to these communities,” the deputy minister said on Tuesday.

The Soweto-born activist Msitshana is the founder and managing director of the DEF, a social enterprise which aims to transform the lives of members of the deaf community. This comes after Msitshana lost her hearing in 2015, resulting in her making it her mission to help the deaf community and other minorities access jobs and opportunities.

In 2023, the National Assembly amended Section 6 of the Constitution and approved the South African Sign Language (SASL) as the 12th official language.

Msitshana celebrated, believing that soon the deaf community would experience a shift. However, she believes this policy has not been fully implemented to ensure sign language is taught in South African schools alongside other official languages.

“After years of fighting and lobbying, we welcomed the recognition of sign language as an official language, but there has not been any full implementation of this policy to ensure that sign language is taught at schools like all the other official languages. On paper, this is good, but we have not seen its full implementation,” she stated.

siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za

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