PEOPLE living with disabilities took to the streets to voice their grievances through a peaceful march to the Rustenburg Local Municipality on Friday, 14 March.
The aim of the march was to demand better services and job opportunities for people living with disabilities.The march also aimed to raise awareness and promote acceptance of people with disabilities highlighting the importance of inclusivity in empowering communities and advocating for accessibility.
The march was organised by RSA Disability Civil Movement, a non-profit organization that advocates for the rights and inclusion of persons living with disabilities. The marchers accused the municipality of taking him for granted. They demanded that 80% of municipal employees undergo sign language training so that they able to provide excellent service to deaf individuals.
Organiser, Tshepang Masibi said they have several times engaged the municipality about issues affecting people living with disabilities, but they keep on giving empty promises. Masibi, who has a disability, said the municipality has a special project programme, but it hasn’t benefited them. He said he feels the municipality has abandoned them. “We must benefit from infrastructure projects. The mayor must ensure that 2 or 3 companies are included as sub-contractors for very project initiated by RLM regardless of the size of the project.”
A Rustenburg resident shared his experiences as a person living with disabilities in the local community. He spoke about challenges such as taxi drives ignoring them on the roads. “We should be treated like human beings. We need to have access to basic services.” “The municipality has no heart for disabled people. I am unemployed. My family rely on disability grants, but that money is not enough for food and to pay someone to fetch water for me,” she said.
Another resident who uses a wheelchair said her major challenge was accessing water.She said that when taps run dry in the community she has to wait for family to come home and go buy water from residents who have boreholes.
The municipality was given 14 days to respond to the group’s memorandum.
MMC for special projects, Libie Kgwedi signed the memorandum and promised to pass it on to the mayor and all relevant departments. He said he noted all the concerns and felt their pain.
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I am glad to see that the media coverage was present to witness the march that took place yesterday at Rustenburg.l am hurt to see those people who still write things like People living with disabilities it clearly shows they don’t read or know what the new charter of the disabilities says as stated by the International Human Rights Treaty of the United Nations in 2006 December 13.The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.Hope next time your news anchors will start to research before writing anything about us as people with disabilities.l thank you.