Okay. The number of people with disabilities employed in the Public Service
50. Ms B P Mabe (ANC) asked the Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities:
(1) What is the total number of persons with disabilities who are employed in the Public Service, categorised as (a) deaf, (b) sight, (c) hearing and (d) physically disabled employed as Assistant Director, Deputy Director, Director, Chief Director, Deputy Director-General and Director-General;
(2) whether she considers such figures sufficient; if not, what measures is her department putting in place to address the situation; if so, what are the relevant details? CO177E
The MINISTER OF WOMEN, CHILDREN AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES: Chairperson, the reply to the question is that the information we currently have at our disposal reflects the representation of persons with disabilities as reflected in Persal. The representation, for instance, on assistant director and deputy director levels is not indicated in the table that I am going to be reading. Attached here are Persal statistics as at 30 June 2009 of senior management levels. All other categories will only be available in a little while. I will start with the Eastern Cape in terms of provinces and national departments. If you look at employees with disabilities at senior level in this province, you will find that there are only three of them - one male and two females. The Free State has one male and no females. Gauteng has two males and no females. Limpopo has nine - eight males and one female. Mpumalanga has two - two males and no females. North West has two - two males and no females. The Northern Cape has two - two males and no females. The Western Cape has two - one male and one female. KwaZulu-Natal has no one at all. National departments have 28 - 18 males and 10 females. The grand total is 51, with 37 males and 14 females.
The figures I have run through are certainly not sufficient. In order to address this, firstly, the Department of Public Service and Administration has developed the Job Access Strategic Framework, as I have said earlier, which is a strategic framework for implementation across all departments in the Public Service. There are various outcomes that are expected through the implementation of the strategy. It is envisaged that these intended outcomes will go a long way in addressing a lot of factors that have contributed to the inability of the Public Service to meet its stipulated employment equity targets with regard to people with disabilities. So, these outcomes include, but are not necessarily limited to, the creation of an understanding of the mandate and legal context of the strategic framework that I have referred to. This will be achieved through training on disability management in the Public Service for senior managers, human resource practitioners and disability focal points.
Secondly, we need to ensure the creation of an enabling climate of appropriate attitudes and sensitivities that are accommodative of people with disabilities. This requires that all officials in the workplace attend workshops so that they can understand issues better. This also means that the mind-set in the country has to change so that all of us, without exception, do something better to improve the participation of people with disabilities in workplaces.
We also need to consider reasonable accommodation and accessibility which must be given priority in all planning of departments. This will also involve ensuring that a specific budget is made available for reasonable needs of accommodation for people with disabilities, including assistive devices. As an example, if a blind worker is employed and this person has skills in the workplace, one needs to provide tools needed for this person's skills. These would include, of course, working with Braille. One can also have someone in the workplace to assist with this person's movement. Another alternative is to have a guide dog to be with this person in the workplace. This means that the workplace must be conducive to different kinds of accommodative programmes or support processes so that people with disabilities can feel comfortable in the workplace. This is not just about creating job opportunities, but it is also about ensuring that these people are assisted to give their best and that they are given the tools to do so.
Departments should have disability focal persons who are adequately capacitated. We also need to develop different measures of developing skills and capacity among people with disabilities.
Lastly, we need to ensure accessibility to employment and upward mobility, especially by increasing representation at senior management levels through reasonable accommodation in the workplace, skills development, bursaries and other measures. I thank you.