MBABANE: Deputy Prime Minister(DPM) Themba Masuku says policy makers have a heavy task of ensuring that issues of disability mainstreaming and inclusion are “elevated” in their various organizations, Government online platforms reported on Friday.
According to the report, the DPM has been speaking during a capacity building workshop for policy makers on disability inclusion and mainstreaming.Participating at the workshop have been the Civil Service Commission, Scholarship Selection Board, Teaching Service Commission, Clerk to Parliament, Registrar of the Supreme Court and the private sector.
“Persons with disabilities are often invisible and marginalised in society.They are over represented amongst the unemployed, the uneducated and the poor.This has far reaching implications to them at individual, family and societal levels.Persons with disabilities in Eswatini constitute 13% (146 554 persons) of the total population. This is according to the population and housing census data of 2017. Out of this figure, about 42 000 of them are in gainful employment.The census also found that the prevalence of disability is higher in the rural areas than it in urban areas.The statistics inform us that we need to do more to ensure that persons with disabilities are fully included in our programmes,” said the DPM.
Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku.