South africa: South Africa and China are set to deepen cooperation on disability inclusion, data, universal design, artificial intelligence, and assistive technology as the two countries seek practical ways to improve the lives and rights of persons with disabilities.
According to South African Government News Agency, the commitment was highlighted by the Minister in the Presidency responsible for Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities, Sindisiwe Chikunga, during the visit of a delegation from the China Disabled Persons' Federation (CDPF) to South Africa on Tuesday. The Minister welcomed the Chinese delegation and described the engagement as an important continuation of high-level discussions held in China in October 2025, indicating that the two countries are moving from dialogue to measurable and practical implementation.
The partnership is grounded in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and South Africa's White Paper on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Minister emphasized that disability inclusion should be integrated across government planning, budgeting, and digital transformation, rather than being treated as a stand-alone program.
At the heart of the cooperation is a commitment to ensuring that persons with disabilities are recognized not merely as recipients of services, but as rights-holders, economic contributors, innovators, and equal citizens. Effective planning for inclusion requires governments to understand who is being excluded, where barriers exist, and whether policies are producing meaningful results. South Africa is therefore conceptualizing a Disability Nerve Centre of Excellence as a G20 legacy project, which would collaborate with Statistics South Africa, institutions of higher learning, and other disability-data stakeholders.
South Africa also aims to exchange expertise with China on disability-disaggregated administrative data, census methodologies, digital platforms, and the ethical use of data. Universal design was identified as another major pillar of the proposed partnership, with the Minister stating that accessibility should become a normal and non-negotiable part of national development.
The proposed cooperation includes smart wheelchairs, AI-supported speech-to-text tools, communication technologies, navigation systems for blind and visually impaired people, accessible digital interfaces, AI-supported learning tools, rehabilitation technologies, and smart-home solutions. However, Chikunga cautioned that innovation must be accessible to those who need it most, combining innovation with inclusion, technology with dignity, and artificial intelligence with human rights.
The Minister noted that people cannot fully access government services, education, employment, justice, or healthcare if information is not provided in an accessible form. The proposed approach includes Easy Read and plain-language communication, Braille and accessible print, captioning and subtitling, South African Sign Language and other sign-language services, audio descriptions, accessible websites and mobile applications, as well as targeted accessible public information campaigns.
The Minister proposed a seven-point action plan to ensure the bilateral engagement produces tangible outcomes. This framework includes establishing a South Africa-China Disability Inclusion Knowledge Exchange Platform, joint capacity-building programs, stronger cooperation between research institutions and universities, collaboration with technology developers and organizations of persons with disabilities, joint exploration of AI and assistive technologies, deeper cooperation on disability data and statistics, and joint programs on universal design and accessibility. The plan also suggests structured exchanges between learners with disabilities in pre-vocational and vocational programs in both countries to support skills development.
