… as new buildings create new barriers for PWDs
By Beverly Bizeki
Masvingo City has been on a drive for economic development as the city is growing with new buildings sprouting every now and then. On the other hand, talk about disability inclusion is also on a high note but the development has brought new challenges for inclusion as almost all these new buildings are hardly accessible to people with disabilities.
The city has gained multiple high rise buildings over the past few years but it is business as usual in terms of facilities in the buildings; staircase after staircase. This becomes worrying as PWDs find themselves unable to easily access these facilities.
Disability Amalgamation Community Trust (DACT) Director Henry Chivhanga said the development in the city is welcome but said it was saddening as the buildings are not accessible to PWDs, despite council ensuring the disability community during previous engagements that plans for buildings without proper facilities would not be approved.
“When we see new buildings going up in town it is a sign of economic development. The sad thing however is that those buildings when completed won’t be accessible to PWDs because of lack of ramps and elevators.
“We engaged the city fathers and we were told that if a plan is brought to them with no provision for elevators or ramps as the case may be, such plans are not approved. We further engaged them on existing buildings and they indicated that they will communicate with the owners of the buildings. If the PWDs Bill becomes law, Adjustment Orders as envisioned in the bill would resolve most of these challenges,” said Chivhanga.
Masvingo Provincial National Council of Disabled Persons Chairperson Moses Chitombo lamented the issue and said development was now becoming a deterrent for PWDs.
“It is saddening to witness the construction of new buildings within the city in such a way that creates inaccessibility to others especially PWDs as they barred from entering those buildings. The buildings however house various facilities addressing any other person so this affects the lives of PWDs as they cannot go to places where other people can get a source of livelihood.
“We are worried because we have always had meetings to address these issues between office bearers and PWDs to check whether their services are satisfying everyone, council included.
“Different organizations in Masvingo have spoken on the inaccessibility to buildings but they are continually being erected in Masvingo in council’s presence and ministries. I do not know why they are not taking this matter seriously, buildings are erected without having facilities to address PWDs. There is a need for improving these buildings to have facilities that enable PWDs to get access,” said Chitombo.
Chitombo said there was need for people constructing the buildings to obey the law and involve PWDs when they do their work so that they can be able to offer contributions to address this challenge.
“People must obey the law and take serious steps towards this issue. These people should work together with disability leaders in the community so that when they do their plans they can even ask for information from these leaders. City council must also involve PWDs in various meetings so that these issues can be aired out because we will continue to witness such blunders even though they have the Disability policy at hand. Even if the Bill is passed into law but there are no PWDs at the core of decision-making boards no change is likely to be effected anywhere. PWDs must be involved whenever there is planning for cities or other local authorities so that all buildings are constructed with disability consciousness,” said Chitombo.
Chitombo also said they have been doing awareness campaigns and holding various meetings with stakeholders to no avail as there has been little progress concerning the matter.
“We have been doing awareness campaigns with various organizations, service providers, and meetings whereby we have tasked them to improve accessibility at their organizations but it has not yielded much fruit. For some government offices, they have said the policy does not allow them to change the original buildings so it is a great challenge for us. Maybe the challenge will receive the attention it deserves when the bill is passed into law, maybe by then we will have our weapon to enable us to take legal action against them,” said Chitombo.
