BY KWANELE TSABEDZE
MBABANE – The Deputy Prime Minister today led stakeholders in discussing ways to improve the employment rate amongst the population of people living with disabilities.
The discussion happened today in Mbabane, where stakeholders including Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku, evaluated the different considerations in the employment of people living with disabilities in the country.
“Your presence here helps us a lot in that we will be able to succeed as a collective in the different levels of engaging with the issue. Especially because you are the ones at the policy level, you will be able to make this issue prominent. This is very important because people living with disability have very high unemployment rates,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.
The Deputy Prime Minister’s words were supported by the Chairperson of the umbrella body for people living with disabilities in the country, Eswatini Federation of People Living with Disabilities, Bongani Makama.
“We are trying to see if there is any help we can have for them. In particular, we want to know how they are considered when employment decisions are being made – for example, the Teaching Services Commission (TSC) is actively looking into how people living with disabilities are considered when hiring,” said Makama.
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) representative Thamary Sifundza also highlighted the importance of ensuring that people living with disabilities are catered for in employment.
“Let us remove all the barriers that incubate discrimination of persons living with disabilitiesin the workplace. This includes ensuring that our workplaces are disability friendly,” said Sifundza.
According to the Deputy Prime Minister’s Office, the number of people living with disabilities in the country who are gainfully employed is about 42,000 out of over 150,000 people in total in the country who are living with disabilities.
