TimesLIVE writes that as the world commemorates the International Day for Persons with Disabilities on Thursday, SA still has a long way to go when it comes to creating economic opportunities for the disabled.
“Our progress has been slow in terms of seeing the results, we have been slow in ensuring that our environment is inclusive of all people of SA including those with disability,” said Hlengiwe Mkhize, deputy minister in the presidency for women, youth and persons with disabilities. She was speaking at an event on Wednesday hosted by Johannesburg electrical product manufacturer Lesco, and highlighted the importance of the private sector absorbing more disabled people into the workforce. Lesco is one company that heeded the call for economic inclusion of disabled people and embarked on a mission to employ differently-abled individuals who often do not get job opportunities. The company, which employs more than 100 people, has made a huge difference in the lives of staff. Lebo Mashego, who was diagnosed with polio at the age of eight, is among them. She remarked: “Life was really difficult growing up as a disabled person. I never thought I would ever be employed. It was hard because even my family did not understand my frustration. The challenges are everywhere, there are still people who think people living with disabilities are not human enough.” Mashego joined the company in June 2019 and progressed from being a general worker to playing a supervisory role. Lesco chairperson Sipho Nkosi expressed the hope that many more companies would follow suit and employ disabled people and said it started with the corporate will to include them.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nonkululeko Njilo at TimesLIVE
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