On Friday, 17 November 2017, the North West Provincial Legislature’s Portfolio Committee on Health and Social Development will be hosting the People with Disability and Sports Sectoral Parliament under the theme Celebrating 20 years of the Constitution: Strengthening self-representation and building on the Legacy of OR Tambo and Friday Mavuso. The event will be held in the Legislature Chamber at 09h00.
The following topics will be discussed at the event:
Employment: the current employment rate for People with Disability in the North West Province is 0.68% against the required 2% – 7%.
Skills Development: People with Disabilities in the North West Province do not have the privilege to internships and learnership programmes as prescribed in the Skills Development Act
Universal Access: access to information remains a challenge for blind and deaf people
Institutional arrangement: the White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires that a Disability Focal Person in each department should report to the Head of Department and this is currently not happening.
The objective of the event is also to strengthen oversight and accountability on issues facing people with disability and build sustainable stakeholder relations that will deepen participatory democracy. On recognising that South Africa is celebrating 20 years of democracy where all sectors have a story to tell, the Legislature invited People with Disability across the province to participate in a Sectoral Parliament where they will interact with the Members of the Provincial Legislature and Executive Committee on issues affecting them.
The event will be attended by 300 stakeholders from the different sectors ranging from Disabled People of South Africa; Special Olympics South Africa will present on Sports in relation to People with Disability; Department of Social Development; Status on People with Disability Desk and Government departments focal desks.
North West Provincial Legislature acknowledges 2017 as a year of commemorating 20 years of the Constitution and the inception of National Council of Provinces (NCOP).
Source: Government of South Africa