“Love and appreciate people living with disabilities”

The MEC for Sports Arts and Culture, Nandi Ndalane, welcomed the fact that people with disabilities were being given increased opportunities to assert themselves in various spheres of society. She paid tribute, in particular, to those involved in improving the quality of life of this sector of society.

Ndalane addressed a large crowd of disabled people at Dzanani hall during the provincial celebration of International Disabled Persons Day two weeks ago.

"During our first decade of democracy, we saw the transformation of parliament and government departments, to reflect the fact that we are a society with a large number of people with disabilities, who have a right to serve in these institutions," she said.

"We come from a past which did not treat people with disabilities with respect, which did not recognise them as full citizens of this country and did not accord them the status they deserve in society. This has all been changed," she added.

The MEC pointed out that the nation's responsibility in this regard stretched beyond its borders, as it was necessary to advance the cause of people with disabilities throughout the continent.

The past decade had seen great advances made to ensure this sector's access to free primary health care, she said. The country had also come a long way towards addressing the educational needs of disabled people, by using a more integrated approach, as opposed to the special schools concept that existed before, she explained.

Vhembe District mayor Tshitereke Matibe urged the community not to push these people away. "We have this kind of event because we want to show disable and challenged people that we love and accept them in our houses and community.” He urged parents to stop abusing these people and to stop using them as sources of income. He said that the disability grants should be used the way they were intended.

One of people with a disability, Mr Humbulani Nengovhela, said they had braved the cold and gone in their numbers to cast their votes. “We support our government and we will do everything in our power to make it work, but all our efforts seem to be going the wrong way as we are not being considered for big tenders. The municipality is not following the stipulated 2% employment quota for disabled people in every department, and we are being overlooked for learnerships and receive no funding for projects. We would like all this to be changed as we are citizens of this country and we deserve the best,” he said.

News - Date: 17 December 2014

Kaizer Nengovhela

Kaizer Nengovhela started writing stories for Limpopo Mirror in 2000. Prior to that he had a five year stint at Phala-Phala FM as sports presenter. In 2005 Kaizer received an award from the province's premier as Best Sports Presenter. The same year he was also nominated as Best Sports Reporter by the Makhado Municipality. Kaizer was awarded the Mathatha Tsedu award in 2014.

Email: [email protected]