Office on the Status of Disabled Persons; Disabled People South Africa: briefing

Meeting report

JOINT MONITORING COMMITTEE ON THE IMPROVEMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE AND STATUS OF CHILDREN, YOUTH AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
9 November 2001
OFFICE ON THE STATUS OF DISABLED PERSONS; DISABLED PEOPLE SOUTH AFRICA: BRIEFING

Chairperson: Ms HI Bogopane

Relevant Documents:
Disabled People of South Africa (expected 21 November)
The Presidency Annual Report
Presentation by OSDP (see Appendix)

SUMMARY
The Office on the Status of Disabled Persons urged Members to support the International Disability Day programme, to be held in the Eastern Cape in December. The theme is disability renaissance, with sub-themes such as economic empowerment and universal access. Disabled People South Africa briefed the Committee on its aims, history and priority areas.

MINUTES
The Chairperson asked comments, remarks or suggestions on the Presidency Annual Report, before the Committee for consideration. No suggestions or remarks were forthcoming, at which point the Chairperson adopted the Report as is.

Office on the Status of Disabled Persons
By way of introduction, Mr Benny Palime explained that OSDP was established on 3 December 1997 in conjunction with a joint venture on the United Nations Standards of Equal Opportunities. In the preceding years it attempted to urge provincial and local government to observe the importance of International Disability Day. The main objective of this day was to heighten awareness amongst the general public of the rights and privileges of disabled people as well as highlighting the achievements of people with disabilities.

To achieve the aforementioned, specific themes have been used each year to achieve the goal of this campaign, for instance, human rights. He urged government to support the campaign and proposed International Disabled month be observed from 3 November 2001 to 3 December 2001. Mr Palime advised that to support this bid, they had provincial summits in the Northern Cape as well as disability awards and a Disability Arts Week in Cape Town from 24 November to 30 November 2001.

The programme on 3 December 2001 would be held in the Eastern Cape. The days programme would include DPSA handing over a memorandum to the provincial government regarding grants for disabled people. The focus of the theme this year would be that of disability renaissance, subdivided into 4 sub-themes, namely:
-economic empowerment
-education
-universal access
-arts and culture

This year a poster campaign had been run depicting and highlighting four different themes. Another crucial issue was the money required for poster distribution, functions and so forth. He advised that due to a lack of resources and funding to support the finale of the International Disabled month in the Eastern Cape, they would be relying strictly on donor funding to support this event.

Discussion
Mr Gore (DP) asked Mr Palime what kind of service providers had been consulted to assist in drawing up the poster campaign.
Mr Palime responded that the South African Consul on Disability as well as Disabled People South Africa had been consulted on this initiative.

Mr Maloyi (ANC) asked Mr Palime to elaborate on the term previously used, namely "disability renaissance".
Mr Palime stated that this concept of disability renaissance is to be seen in light of the four sectors previously explained, namely: (i) economic empowerment; (ii) education; (iii) arts and culture; and (iv) universal access. He stressed that the campaign not only wished to heighten public awareness, but was also intended for people with disabilities at the framework of government. The key aim of this initiative was to create a barrier free environment with government. Or simply put, it aimed to revive the mandate given to government by people with disabilities to implement policy.

The Chair asked Mr Palime what he foresaw as the role of the Committee in the International Disabled People's Day and what he expected of the Committee.
Mr Palime responded that he foresaw the Committee having a monitoring function because of the political role of Members. He informed political parties present that constitutional and political mandates fulfilled by Members do not go unnoticed by the disability sector.

The other key role of Committee Members was that of consultation on to issues relevant to people with disabilities. Members were required to impose a consideration of disabled peoples' rights in line with the Constitution.

Decade of Disabled People
Mr Palime briefly informed that a Conference had been held in January 2000 which consisted of various tenures to be adopted in South Africa for people with disabilities. Subsequently, a declaration had been adopted and on 3 December 2000 it was pronounced by the Deputy President of South Africa. To date nothing further has been done.

Disabled People South Africa
Ms Marjorie January, Councillor, gave a brief history and background into DPSA. The project was launched in 1994 in Soweto at the height of political struggle, reason being that disabled people wished to be emancipated and recognised as human beings and to be integrated into society. Ms January then discussed the key issues contained in the written submission presented by DPSA; DPSA's delegation, its history, vision, mission and priority areas and challenges.

Discussion
Mr Gore (DP) asked where funding was obtained for DPSA.
Matthew Parks, the Parliamentary Officer of DPSA, responded to members questions by stating that the funding of DPSA was achieved through a number of foreign donors e.g. Scandinavia, the Lottery Fund and the Department of Health to name but a few. He stressed that no funding had been received from political parties.

Ms Nkuna (ANC) asked what happened in a situation where a child was deaf and the family members were unable to communicate in sign language.
Mr Parks responded that DPSA has initiated a project to overcome this problem and it will take effect next year.

Mr Da Camara (DP) asked if sign language lessons was available to all Members of Parliament.
Mr Parks responded to Mr Da Camara's (DP) question by stating that DPSA had initiated a sign language programme last year, which proved unsuccessful due to the lack of response by Members of Parliament.

Ms Gandhi (ANC) asked if any mechanisms had been implemented to monitor the private sector to accommodate people with disabilities.

Mr Parks replied that the area surrounding the private sector has been difficult to tackle due to the fact that 90% of disabled people are unemployed.

Mr Maloyi (ANC) requested DPSA to compile a more comprehensive and detailed written submission which would expand or elaborate more on the concepts contained in their presentation.
His request for a more detailed written submission was granted and would be made available to Committee members at a later stage, advised Mr Parks.

The meeting was adjourned.

Appendix:
PRESENTATION
By Benny Palime OSDP

INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

International day for persons with disabilities is observed and celebrated throughout the world on December 3^rd every year.
As declared by the United Nations Organisation (UN). This day is observed in this country as all other national days on our calendar.

The Office on the Status of Disabled Persons has made this day part of its activity plan with an allocated budget item.
Similarly, the disability sector considers this as crucial to people with disabilities.

The Office on the Status of Disabled Persons (OSDP) began observing this day in December 1997, by launching a white paper on integrated national disability strategy.
During the three years following the launch, there have been several activities in the form of campaigns, celebrations, consultative conferences and most significantly, the launch of the Thabo Mbeki Development Trust in 1999.

The Provincial Governments are also urged to observe this day. National Departments participate through awareness-raising activities within their Departments and the public about their disability policies and service available to people with disabilities.

The main objective of this is to raise awareness about disability issues and to promote public education on disability.

People with disabilities also seek to highlight and celebrate their achievements and enhance and promote their rights. This would automatically lead to the reduction of the level of discrimination within the broader society.
Several themes such as, A society for all, economic empowerment, etc have been promoted for the past three years.
The theme for 2001 is Disability renaissance-Towards social development.
The disability sector has decided to highlight this theme from the year 2000, with specific emphasis on reviving disability awareness-raising and has also advised the (OSDP) to promote the same theme within all tiers of Government.

The Sector has placed emphasis for this year on 4 main sub-themes, i.e. Universal access, economic empowerment, education, and arts and culture.
Special emphasis is placed on accessible transport and social security.

November 2001 has also been declared by the sector as a disability awareness month.
There are several activities taking place throughout the month.
These activities include amongst others:
Disability arts week, Seminars on transport, tourism and agriculture, Provincial disability summits and presentation in the national Assembly, National Council of Provinces, and Provincial Legislatures.

The main national event will be held in the Eastern Cape, in Port Elizabeth on December 3.
The disability sector will present a memorandum to the Deputy-President at the event.

The OSDP and the South African Federal Council on Disability have undertaken a poster campaign for 2000-2001, in order to highlight the importance of this day.
The 2001 budget for International day allocated by the OSDP amounts to 200 000,00 Rands.

The expenditure is derived from donor-funding.

The activity plan for International is currently under review and the new plan will be presented to this committee in the next year.