Call for facilities for voters with disabilities

TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO 

The Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) should create facilities to allow people living with disabilities (PWDs)  to exercise their  right to vote, Signs of Hope Trust director, Samantha Sibanda has said.

According to  official data obtained from the  Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, PLWDs constitute 15% of the country’s population.

“When it comes to accessibility we see that there is a great problem during elections,” Sibanda said.

She added: “The main centres that are used as polling stations should be renovated to make them accessible to PLWDs.

There have been concerns from citizens, especially those with disabilities about difficulty in accessing some services in health, education, business and others.

Sibanda said her organisation also wanted to know the number of people with disabilities who voted during the by-elections.

“The figures will help us know the way forward. We also want to know the number of people with disabilities who voted during the by-elections,” she said.

According to the ZANU-PF Central Committee Report in 2012, the deaf are routinely left out of the country’s education system and cannot proceed beyond O’ Level because they cannot pass English Language at that level due to their language, the sign language, which is not recognised as an official language in Zimbabwe.

Similarly, people with visual impairments do not have access to vital information as they read Braille rather than conventional print.

The report revealed that nearly 75% of registered disabled voters failed to cast their ballots in the 2008 general elections, mainly due to lack of disability-friendly facilities at polling stations.