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26 March 2009

Programme directors
Members of the Executive Council
Executive Mayors of Steve Tshwete Municipality and Nkangala District Municipality, Clr MT Mahlangu and Clr SK Mashilo, respectively
Acting Director-General (DG), Mr JS Mgidi
Representatives of the Disabled People's Organisations
The disability sector
Nominees and finalists of the Premier's Disability Achiever Awards
Senior managers and officials in the public service
Ladies and gentlemen

The Premier's Disability Achiever Awards is an important occasion to recognise and honour outstanding individuals and institutions for their contribution to the development and empowerment of persons with disabilities.

In many ways, all the nominees of the Disability Achiever Awards today have made significant contributions towards addressing the plight of persons with disabilities in our communities. They have championed initiatives that raise awareness and encourage positive social attitudes towards children, youth, women and adults with disabilities, and ensured that persons with disabilities have access to government services such as identity documents, disability grants and assistive devices.

Through these awards, we celebrate the resilient spirit of persons with disabilities who have overcome the constraints of their own disabilities to reach out and assist persons with disabilities in their own communities. We honour organisations and professionals who have worked tirelessly to ensure that persons with disabilities enjoy fundamental human rights to which they are entitled as equal human beings and citizens of our country.

Ladies and gentleman, over the last decade, we have seen heightened global commitment to the advancement and development of persons with disabilities in order to ensure their full and equal participation in social, cultural and economic development of society. The 1999 African Decade and plan of action for persons with disabilities and the proclamation on the full participation, equality and empowerment of people with disabilities in Africa were critical and necessary instruments to galvanise African governments to create equal opportunities for persons with disabilities, protect their fundamental human rights, and foster their integration into the mainstream of society.

Equally, the entry into force of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of persons with disabilities and its option protocol last year signalled the importance of mainstreaming disability issues as an integral part of relevant strategies of sustainable development. This is a significant global commitment to enabling persons with disabilities to fully enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms. As a nation, we have committed ourselves to ensuring that we place the issues of persons with disabilities on the national development agenda.

Despite advances in many areas of our development endeavours, persons with disabilities continue to be subjected to artificial barriers and challenges that restrict their equal participation and full enjoyment of rights and fundamental freedoms without discrimination. I have no doubt that the individuals and organisations we are honouring today exemplify outstanding commitment towards removing barriers to which persons with disabilities are unnecessarily subjected.

As a province, we should continue to implement appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities have easy access to the physical environment, transportation infrastructure, housing, medical facilities as well as information and communication technologies. We should continue to create a physical environment conducive to the mobility and participation of persons with disabilities. Our workplaces should comply with access and mobility needs of persons with disabilities.

We should strengthen our efforts to facilitate access to public services by persons with disabilities. As government, we need to present information in formats accessible to persons with disabilities. A practical case in point we need to reflect on is 'how this Thusong Centre we are using today is able to cater for persons with disabilities with respect to government information and services'. It is crucial to ensure that information on services, communication, speeches, and documents are made available in Braille materials so that blind and partially sighted people who can read Braille can access the information easily. Essentially, we need to provide quality mobility aids and assistive devices that enhance mobility and the ability of persons with disabilities to live independently.

As a province, we have made significant progress in reducing the backlog of assistive devices that persons with disabilities need for their mobility independence. In the last financial year, the Department of Health (DoH) issued 1 050 manual wheelchairs, 46 power wheelchairs and 800 pairs of hearing aids. On average, the waiting time for these assistive devices has been reduced to less than five weeks, lower than the national norm.

The province is in partnership with Disabled People South Africa and the Mpumalanga branch of the South African National Council for the Blind (SANCB) to implement community based rehabilitation projects. Through these projects, 35 people with disabilities were employed to work as field workers and peer counsellors in all the municipalities. Six youth were employed as mobility orientation and independence practitioners for the training of the visually impaired persons. Through these community-based rehabilitation projects, we have identified and referred 20 656 persons with disabilities to various government agencies, so that they access services they require. 605 persons with visual disabilities were identified and trained in mobility and independence skills.

Ladies and gentlemen, illiteracy among persons with disabilities in developing countries has, over the years, been a consequence of systemic exclusion from access to educational opportunities. This has restricted opportunities for persons with disabilities to access economic development opportunities.

Among many inspirational stories today, we celebrate the story of learners with disabilities who have demonstrated extraordinary capabilities and success in their studies despite their disabilities. This is inspiration to humanity to believe in the potential of every individual to succeed irrespective of their disability.

As a province, we want to ensure that persons with disabilities are able to access education at early stages of their development. The implementation of inclusive education in Mpumalanga is currently underway. We are committed to enhancing the capacities of our schools to cater for the specific needs of learners with mental, intellectual, physical and sensory disabilities.

Critically, the availability of suitably qualified educators to implement the curriculum that meets the needs of persons with disabilities requires of us to invest in the development of educators to enhance the quality if curriculum delivery to learners with disabilities. We should make resource centres available to support learning and development through the provision of appropriate learning infrastructure such as assistive devices and learning material presented in accessible formats.

As we address poverty and unemployment challenges, we must continue to equalise access to employment and business development opportunities for persons with disabilities in all the sectors of our economy. In this regard, we have prioritised the mainstreaming of disability issues into government programmes.

Our Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) continues to benefit persons with disabilities in accessing employment and skills development opportunities. We are providing opportunities for persons with disabilities to participate so that they acquire skills necessary to facilitate their absorption into the labour market. Despite progress we have made in creating opportunities for persons with disabilities to earn income, we are concerned about the inability of government departments and municipalities to meet stipulated employment equity targets with respect to persons with disabilities.

As government, we are committed to strengthening partnerships with the private sector to support initiatives such as establishment of resource centres for the disabled persons, the provision of on-the-job skills development and placement programmes which expose disabled persons to the work environment so that they acquire requisite skills for taking up employment.

Persons with disabilities should be supported to be actively involved in the mainstream economy so that they contribute to the growth and prosperity of the province. Among many achievements that we are honouring today, the inspirational story of Jeremia Shabangu and the Vulamehlo Disabled Group from Nkomazi who manage a sugar cane farm and contribute to the fight against poverty should be emulated by many disabled persons in our communities. Shabangu's entrepreneurial spirit and commitment to community service and empowerment should serve to inspire the disability sector and society in general to embrace the spirit of 'Vuk'uzenzele' (self-help/self-empowerment). Let everyone embrace the spirit of self-empowerment as we continue to build this great South African Nation.

Programme directors, allow me conclude by saying that, our progress as society in creating a caring and humane society must be measured by, among other things, the creation of the social environment that guarantees and promotes the full enjoyment of human rights by persons with disabilities.

Congratulations to all the nominees and finalists for the Premier's Disability Achiever Awards. You have all made the province proud.

I would also like to convey our gratitude to our sponsors, Buscor Limited, Absa Bank, and TSB for having contributed to making today's occasion a success. As our social partners, we appreciate your continued support of the Premier's Disability Achiever Awards.

Thank you.

Issued by: Mpumalanga Provincial Government
26 March 2009