South Africans with disabilities constitute a sizeable proportion of the population, and their status in society is extremely varied in a developing nation with socio-economic inequality and a history of apartheid. Wealthy city dwellers have access to a wide range of assistance, whereas the poor struggle for even the basic necessities of life.
According to a 2014 report by Statistics South Africa, based on the 2011 census, 7.5% of the country's population is regarded as having a disability. [1] [note 1] The highest proportion of people living with disabilities, by province, was found to be in the Free State, with 11,1% of its population having a disability, followed by the Northern Cape, with 11%, the North West, with 10%, the Eastern Cape, with 9,6%, KwaZulu-Natal, with 8,4%, Mpumalanga, with 7%, Limpopo, with 6%, the Western Cape, with 5,4% and Gauteng, with 5,3%. [2] In his presentation the Statistician-General, Pali Lehohla, said that mining could contribute to the high prevalence of people with disabilities in Free State, Northern Cape, North West, and Eastern Cape. According to Lehohla a significant number of South Africa's mine workers originate from these provinces. [3]
South Africa is a party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) as well as the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, signed on 30 March 2007 and ratified on 30 November 2007. [4] [5] The national constitution's chapter two, "bill of rights" explicitly prohibits unfair discrimination against people on the basis of disability or health status.
The 1997 Integrated National Disability Strategy (INDS) white paper set out a variety of government policy positions on disability. [6]
From 2009 to 2014 a Ministry and Department of Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities existed. Its disability programme was criticized in parliament for underperformance and inefficiency. [7] When the Ministry and department were abolished in 2014, responsibility for matters relating to disability passed to the Department of Social Development, however this move was criticized by disability organisations. [8] Disabled People South Africa (DPSA) organised a 150-person march to the Union Buildings in protest of government's decision to dissolve the department. DPSA spokesperson Olwethu Sipuka said that disabled people around the world felt that the decision to dissolve the department had taken disability rights in South Africa "10 steps backwards". [9]
The Department of Social Development's 2015 White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities updated and supplemented the 1997 INDS by integrating the provisions of the CRPD and its Optional Protocol. [10] SASSA wishes to stress that the only direct deduction from a social grant which is permitted is a deduction for funeral policy premiums which is managed under Regulation 26 (A) of the Social Assistance Act 2004. The regulation allows for one deduction, which may not exceed 10% of the value of the grant, from the adult grants (old age, war veterans and permanent disability grants) only.
A wide range of advocacy and self-help organisations exist in South Africa. They range from the overtly political Disabled People South Africa, aligned with the ruling African National Congress, to single-issue national organisations such as the QuadPara Association of South Africa [11] and local self-help groups that advocate for their members. [12] A former chair of Disabled People South Africa, Maria Rantho (1953-2002), was the first wheelchair user elected to the National Assembly of South Africa. [13]
In 2014, the South African Community Action Network implemented a hotline to report cars illegally parking in parking bays intended for people with disabilities, without displaying a disabled parking permit. [14]
Employment equity exists in legislation but in practice falls far short. Disabled South Africans are vastly more likely to be unemployed than the average. In a study published by the University of Johannesburg's Centre for Social Development in Africa (CSDA) in 2014, it was shown that 68% of working-age South Africans with disabilities had never attempted to seek employment. [15]
The Department of Social Development offers qualifying residents income support in the form of disability grants via the South African Social Security Agency. [16] [17] The 2014 CSDA study showed that the grant was only received by 10% of the disabled people in South Africa. [18] A 2010 study published by the University of Johannesburg, showed that 61% of disabled people living in the 8 poorest wards in Johannesburg were not accessing the state's disability grant due to various reasons, including not knowing that the grant existed. [19]
The separate special schools policies of the Apartheid era created a system of schools for children with a wide variety of disabilities, with some schools specializing in educating blind, deaf or intellectually impaired students while others that catered for physically disabled students offered the standard academic curriculum coupled with medical and paramedical services to treat the pupils' impairments. As with the general population these schools were also racially segregated. The ones for white children were far better resourced than those for other racial groups. With the abolition of apartheid came a policy shift towards inclusive education with the ideal that most disabled children should attend the same schools as their non-disabled peers, however the process of making schools physically accessible and equipping and staffing them to accommodate such students has been very slow. [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] The 2014 CSDA study showed that the proportion of people with disabilities in South Africa who had achieved a university degree had risen from 0,3% in 2002, to between 1% and 2% in 2014. [18]
The South African Paralympic team has consistently finished in the top half of the medal table at every Summer Paralympic Games since the country was re-admitted after the end of apartheid. At their readmission in the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona the team was ranked 27th by medal tally, in 2008 they reached sixth place, the team's best performance to date. [25]
Notable South African Paralympians include:
South Africa has been participating at the Deaflympics regularly from 1993. Deaf swimmer and Olympic silver medallist Terence Parkin has won the most medals at the Deaflympics history with a tally of 33. [27]
The South Africa national blind cricket team won the inaugural Blind Cricket World Cup in 1998, defeating Pakistan in the final. [28]
Parasports are sports played by people with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. Some parasports are forms of adapted physical activities from existing non-disabled sports, while others have been specifically created for persons with a disability and do not have a non-disabled equivalent. Disability exists in four categories: physical, mental, permanent and temporary. At a competitive level, disability sport classifications are applied to allow people of varying abilities to face similar opposition.
The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations (AM/FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state-owned enterprises.
The Population Registration Act of 1950 required that each inhabitant of South Africa be classified and registered in accordance with their racial characteristics as part of the system of apartheid.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in South Africa have the same legal rights as non-LGBT people. South Africa has a complex and diverse history regarding the human rights of LGBT people. The legal and social status of between 400,000 to over 2 million lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex South Africans has been influenced by a combination of traditional South African morals, colonialism, and the lingering effects of apartheid and the human rights movement that contributed to its abolition.
One Settler, One Bullet was a rallying cry and slogan originated by the Azanian People's Liberation Army (APLA), the armed wing of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), during the struggle of the 1980s against apartheid in South Africa. The slogan grimly parodied the African National Congress's slogan 'One Man, One Vote', which eventually became 'One Person, One Vote'. It is not to be confused with the controversial protest song "Dubul' ibhunu".
Disabled Peoples' International (DPI) is a cross disability, consumer controlled international non-governmental organization (INGO) headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and with regional offices in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Latin America, and North America and the Caribbean. DPI is a network of national organizations or assemblies of disabled people, established in 1980–81 to promote the human rights of disabled people through full participation, equalization of opportunity and development. DPI assists organisations in over 152 nations with the day to day issues of helping disabled people. They also host assemblies and symposiums across the world with their different national branches.
Human rights in South Africa are protected under the constitution. The 1998 Human Rights report by Myles Nadioo noted that the government generally respected the rights of the citizens; however, there were concerns over the use of force by law enforcement, legal proceedings and discrimination. The Human Rights Commission is mandated by the South African Constitution and the Human Rights Commission Act of 1994, to monitor, both pro-actively and by way of complaints brought before it, violations of human rights and seeking redress for such violations. It also has an educational role.
General elections were held in South Africa on 7 May 2014, to elect a new National Assembly and new provincial legislatures in each province. It was the fifth election held in South Africa under conditions of universal adult suffrage since the end of the apartheid era in 1994, and also the first held since the death of Nelson Mandela. It was also the first time that South African expatriates were allowed to vote in a South African national election.
There have been many political assassinations in post-apartheid South Africa. In 2013 it was reported that there had been more than 450 political assassinations in the province of KwaZulu-Natal since the end of apartheid in 1994. In July 2013 the Daily Maverick reported that there had been "59 political murders in the last five years". In August 2016 it was reported that there had been at least twenty political assassinations in the run up to the local government elections on the 3rd of August that year, most of them in KwaZulu-Natal.
Thulisile Nomkhosi "Thuli" Madonsela is a South African advocate and professor of law, holding a chair in social justice at Stellenbosch University since January 2018. She served as the Public Protector of South Africa from 19 October 2009 to 14 October 2016. In 1996, she helped draft the final constitution of South Africa promulgated by then-President Nelson Mandela.
The world's poor are significantly more likely to have or incur a disability within their lifetime compared to more financially privileged populations. The rate of disability within impoverished nations is notably higher than that found in more developed countries. Since the early 2010s there has been growing research in support of an association between disability and poverty and of a cycle by which poverty and disability are mutually reinforcing. Physical, cognitive, mental, emotional, sensory, or developmental impairments independently or in tandem with one another may increase one's likelihood of becoming impoverished, while living in poverty may increase one's potential of having or acquiring disability in some capacity.
Disability in China is common, and according to the United Nations, approximately 83 million people in China are estimated to have a disability.
Braam Jordaan is a South African entrepreneur, filmmaker, animator, and activist. He is an advocate for Sign Language and human rights of Deaf people, and a board member of the World Federation of the Deaf Youth Section. In 2009, Jordaan collaborated with the Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf and Marblemedia on the first children's animated dictionary of American Sign Language, which allows deaf children to look up words in their own primary language of ASL along with the English counterpart. The dictionary allows both deaf children and their hearing parents to learn sign language together.
Peruvians with disabilities constitute 5.2% of the population. 52.1% of disabled people are women. 40.5% of disabled Peruvians have a primary or better education. 76.8% are not economically active they have an unemployment rate of 12.1%. Of those Peruvians with disabilities who do work, 58.3% are self-employed.
Disability affects many people in Zimbabwe in both rural and urban areas. In spite of services provided by the government, philanthropists and welfare agencies, people with disabilities and their families often face several barriers. Philanthropist, Jairos Jiri, started services for people with disability in Zimbabwe in the 1940s. He is regarded as the father or founder of disability work in Zimbabwe.
South Africa has been participating at the Deaflympics from 1993 and have bagged 62 medals at the Summer Deaflympics South Africa has never participated in Winter Deaflympics.
South African Deaf Sports Federation (SADSF) is the official governing body of Deaf Sports in South Africa responsible for sending, supporting, funding the teams representing South Africa and the deaf sportspeople at the Deaflympics, Deaf World Championships. The organisation took the responsibility for sending deaf sportspeople at the Deaflympics since 1993.
South Africa has one of the most extensive social welfare systems among developing countries in the world. In 2019, an estimated 18 million people received some form of social grant provided by the government.
Andrew Frans Madella is a South African politician, disability rights activist, and former trade unionist. A member of the African National Congress (ANC), he served the Western Cape constituency in the National Assembly from 2005 to 2009 and from 2014 to 2019.
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