THE City of Harare (CoH) has landed in trouble for its flagrant disregard of people with mobility disabilities and has been given a two-week ultimatum to fix and ensure access to both public and private amenities in the capital city by people with disabilities.
The request to provide full and equal access to amenities was made by Greatman Gwaze, a Harare resident and musician, who recently wrote a letter of demand to the Town Clerk at CoH asking the local authority to provide full access for people with mobility disabilities.
In the letter written to CoH on 27 September 2024 by Gwaze’s lawyer Moses Nkomo of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, the Harare resident, whose physical disability impairs his mobility and uses a wheelchair to navigate his way, protested that he had on several occasions suffered prejudice through lack of access to both public and private amenities on the basis of equality with other people.
Gwaze said the public and private amenities include shopping malls, boutiques, restaurants and police stations, which sites do not provide for universal design that facilitates accessibility by persons with physical impairments as well as other persons with other various disabilities.
The musician said such unfriendly disability environments had prevented him from living as independently as possible and had restricted his participation in public life and had forced him and other people with disabilities to navigate hazardous conditions, resulting in him and other similarly placed people like him having to rely on well-wishers who would lift him in and out of most of these amenities.
Gwaze charged that this form of treatment had impaired his dignity as a human being with rights and castigated him into an object of charity.
He protested that the public and private amenities and facilities, where members of the public have access, have become beacons of exclusion of people with disabilities to the extent that they do not reasonably accommodate persons with disabilities and have become monuments of systematic discrimination against members of society, who deserve access to them on the basis of equality with other people.
Gwaze said as the local authority which approves building plans in the capital city, CoH had failed in its mandate to ensure accessibility of buildings, for persons with disabilities.
He cited the provisions of section 56(3) of the Constitution which states that every person has a right not to be treated in an unfairly discriminatory manner on such grounds as their nationality, race, tribe, place of birth, ethnic or social origin, language, class, religious belief, political affiliation, opinion, custom, culture, sex, gender, marital status, age, pregnancy, disability or economic or social status, or whether they were born in or out of wedlock.
According to Gwaze, section 83 of the Constitution guarantees the rights of persons with disabilities and these rights include the right to be self-reliant, which entails that persons with disability should be able to look after themselves as far as possible and only resort to assistance as a necessity without entirely depending on the assistance of other people.
The musician said section 22 of the Constitution provides that the state and other institutions of government at every level must within the limits of resources available, assist persons with physical or mental disabilities to achieve their full potential and to minimise the disadvantages suffered by them.
CoH, Gwaze said, had failed to consider specific requirements of persons with disabilities when it adopts requisite development plans and building by-laws.
The musician said the local authority has an obligation to ensure that the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, whose ratification by government is a testament of its commitment to eliminating discrimination against persons with disabilities in all spheres of life including participation and inclusion in public life, independent living and reasonable accommodation, are implemented through legislation and other measures such as policies and development of blueprints.
Gwaze asked CoH to furnish him with its Disabled Persons Policy as a local authority, its current Building By-Laws or such other instruments and its plan to implement universal design on all buildings and public infrastructure in the capital city and other areas under its authority, the timelines for compliance by all building owners with international best practice in universal building design in Harare and its development plans which demonstrate that the specific requirements of persons with all forms of disability are a priority.
This information, Gwaze said, should be availed to him by CoH within 14 days failure of which he would institute legal action against the local authority to address all the concerns, which he noted and demanded to be fixed.
ENDS
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
Kodzero/Amalungelo House
No. 103 Sam Nujoma Street, Harare, Zimbabwe
Phone: (+263 8677005347, +263 242 764085/705370/708118
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www.zlhr.org.zw
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