Concern over electoral environment
SUKOLUHLE NDLOVU IN GWERU
People living with disabilities have expressed concern over lack of resources that can help them participate in electoral processes.
These include braille written documents and technological aids, among many other resources.
Centre for Disability and development official, Edith Masango said these were limiting the participation of people with disabilities in electoral processes.
This, she said, has hindered them from exercising their right to vote.
This has resulted in a low number of people with disabilities actively participating in electoral processes.
“There is a serious lack of resources to assist people with disabilities which have made them lose interest in participating in these electoral processes. This has taken away our right to vote.
“There is unavailability of assistive devices such as hearing aids, computers with joysticks for the blind and braille paper. Sometimes if they happen to be available, they are very expensive and out of reach for many of us,” she said.
Masango said there was need to engage people with disabilities to encourage them to participate in electoral processes.
“Sometimes people with disabilities shy away from participating in a number of processes because they fear being stigmatised. But this anomaly needs to be addressed so that they understand the importance of their participation in various processes that have a direct impact on their day to day lives and their future,” she said.
Masango urged electoral authorities to ensure materials and devices for those with disabilities are always available.
“As people with disabilities, we are therefore urging the responsible authorities to make sure that materials that are needed for people with disabilities to participate are available. We really want to participate but unavailability of materials and resources is a huge stumbling block,” she said.
Statistics from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission show that out of about 900 000 people with disabilities in Zimbabwe, 450 000 are eligible voters and out of that number, only 29,803 were registered for the 2018 elections.
