Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Members of Parliament, director-general and officials, ladies and gentlemen, I feel privileged to be standing here today as a member of a movement and political party that so gallantly fought for human dignity, the achievement of equality and advancement of human rights or freedoms as they are now entrenched in our nation's Constitution.
The Bill of Rights prohibits any form of discrimination against persons with disabilities and promotes the achievement of equality. Let credit be accorded to those who continue to fight and ensure that the rights of people with disabilities as entrenched in our Constitution are realised as part of the achievement of national objectives to create a united, democratic, nonracial, nonsexist and prosperous society.
I myself speak to you today as a woman who bears the scars of disability, having been wounded in the 1976 anti-apartheid struggle. Besides being a product of the 1976 riots, I'm also a mother of a severely disabled son. I am, therefore, glad and humbled to articulate the voice of people with disabilities in this Budget Vote today.
We are glad that this Ministry has been established and is being strengthened, as the ANC and other equality movements in our country have insistently advocated for many years. Indeed, progress has been made in advancing the constitutional rights of people with disabilities, but a lot still remains to be done.
In this regard we therefore welcome the programme objectives included in their Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, plan that are aimed at addressing the plight of people with disabilities, such as policy planning for equalisation of opportunities for persons with disabilities; mainstreaming and capacity development for equalisation of opportunities for persons with disabilities; monitoring and evaluation and research for equalisation of opportunities for persons with disabilities.
In our consideration of this budget and these programmes, we need to assess them against the many challenges that still confront close to 2 million people who constitute the population of people with disabilities in our country. Although we have made progress in terms of the supportive legislative framework, persons with disabilities still face the following challenges.
With regard to poverty, persons with disabilities living in poverty are known to be the poorest within a community and the most vulnerable. As such, it is imperative that an adequate social security net is provided by the state to ensure the protection of persons with disabilities. Hence, social security and food security are some of the key issues that require attention in this regard.
With regard to negative attitude and stereotypes, persons with disabilities continued to be subjected to negative attitudes and barriers to meaningful participation. This can be attributed to a lack of disability awareness.
Furthermore, people with disabilities are faced with challenges related to access to assistive devices which is regarded as a health issue rather than the right of a person with a disability; the cost of maintaining assistive devices is underestimated; lack of appropriately trained skilled personnel to render support services for persons with disabilities; and inaccessible and available transport.
With regard to education, more emphasis needs to be placed on the rights of persons with disabilities to accessing and aquiring quality education. Even though significant strides have been made thus far in South Africa to enhance inclusive education, children and youth with intellectual and learning disabilities continue to be marginalised, as is evident in the dismal state of many schools for learners with special education needs, as well as special schools. There is inequity across the provinces with regard to the types of schools available to learners with disabilities.
In terms of the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, women with disabilities are also marginalised in many ways as was highlighted above. More emphasis needs to be placed on ensuring that these are afforded opportunities and that their rights are not infringed. To this end, monitoring of targets is important, but this requires disaggregated data which is credible, available and reliable.
On the 2% employment equity and target, the majority of government departments have not complied with the 2% employment target for persons with disabilities, bar people from Limpopo, which went beyond the 2%. That's the only province at present.
In our support for this Budget Vote, we note the mandate limitation that the department has because it does not implement services. Its mandate is limited to influencing, monitoring and evaluation. In that context, we believe that its programmes are appropriate to ensure mainstreaming of equalisation. Most importantly, its monitoring and evaluation information, as well as the research that it conducts, will assist changing attitudes and stereotypes towards people with disabilities. We want the department to strengthen its monitoring role and co-ordination of what all government departments are doing to advance the rights of people with disabilities.
In particular, the department's programmes must also pay attention to the country's ability to meet obligations in terms of the UN Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol. It must mainstream disability issues within the Millennium Development Goals, as well as monitor progress in implementation. In recognition of the efforts by the department with these programmes, and measures to strengthen its organisational capacity, the ANC calls for the House to support this Budget Vote. I thank you.