Advocates for people with disabilities (PWDs) are calling on the government to urgently establish a legal framework to hasten the enforcement of the national disability policy (NDP).
President Emmerson Mnangagwa launched the NDP in 2021 to address the marginalization and discrimination faced by PWDs.
However, the lack of a legal framework is impeding its implementation.
The Ministry of Public Service is working on a PWD Bill to replace the Disabled Persons Act, which is now being processed in Parliament.
This was revealed by the Public Service ministry national director of disability affairs, Christine Peta, while talking to NewsDay on the sidelines of a disability reporting workshop last Friday.
“We are in the process of repealing the Disabled Persons Act with the PWD Bill which has passed the Cabinet stage and is now going to Parliament for further processing.
“We expect that very soon we will have a new PWD Act which is aligned to the UNCRPD which Zimbabwe ratified in 2013.
<span;>”The new Act will also be aligned to the Constitution of Zimbabwe,” she said.
Leonard Marange, Director of the Federation of Disabled Persons in Zimbabwe said a suitable legal framework for its enforcement is still necessary.
“Much as it is a very positive milestone to have the NPD which is to a very great extent domesticated by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), we are still concerned that we do not have the legal framework to enforce the NDP.
“For us, the launch of the NPD was akin to putting the cart before the horse because we want an appropriate and conducive legal framework that can lead to the enforcement of the NPD to be justiciable,” Marange said.
