MyPE

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People with disabilities are not a priority

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Dear MyPE

A parliamentary response from the MEC for Social Development, Nancy Sihlwayi, reveals that her department has only reached 1,24% of the targeted 2% appointments for the last several years for people with disabilities.

MEC for Social Development, Nancy Sihlwayi, is failing to provide quality strategic leadership when it comes to prioritizing the appointment of social workers with disabilities in her department.

The department should be the custodian of vulnerable groups but it continues to fail to advance people with disabilities. This is unacceptable in light of the high unemployment rate amongst young people with disabilities in our province.

The staggering unemployment and poverty rates amongst persons with disabilities is in direct contravention of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities where South Africa is a signatory.

Social workers with disabilities still face incredible challenges accessing employment and becoming financially independent.

The DA cares and our view is that a person’s ability is stronger than their disability. Disability is a matter of perception and we encourage people with disabilities to speak out so that they are not left behind.

The MEC must realize that there is no greater disability in society, than the inability to recognize abilities within everyone.

Disabled people in the Eastern Cape are in desperate need of Total Change which will bring them job opportunities and a hope for a better future.

Under a DA-led provincial government, the appointment of people with disabilities would be prioritised. This is what freedom, fairness, opportunity and diversity is truly about.

Regards

Kobus Botha

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Port Elizabethan

This author is a 'catch-all' for occasional articles and letters written to MyPE. The Author of each article can be found in the signature at the bottom of each individual article.