Persons with Disabilities

The Persons with Disabilities Act repeals the Disabled Persons Act [Chapter 17:01] and rebuilds Zimbabwe's disability law around the Constitution and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, with anything done under the old Act saved and carried forward.

It defines discrimination on the basis of disability to include any distinction, exclusion or restriction that impairs the enjoyment of rights on an equal basis with others — and expressly includes the denial of reasonable accommodation. Affirmative action programmes are not discrimination where they are proportionate to promoting equality.

Part VI sets out the substantive rights: accessibility to indoor and outdoor places, public transport and information; sign language, Braille and other communication; reasonable adaptation of buildings, infrastructure, vehicles, working arrangements, rules and procedures; information, signage and forms in Braille and easy-read formats in buildings open to the public; and access to guides, readers and professional sign language interpreters. Further sections cover children, women and girls, people with multiple impairments, disaster and humanitarian emergencies, legal capacity and access to justice, liberty and security, freedom from torture, exploitation and abuse, movement and nationality, independent living, personal mobility, expression and information, privacy, home and family, education, health, habilitation and rehabilitation, work and employment, an adequate standard of living and social protection, political and public life, and cultural life, recreation and sport.

Enforcement is the sharpest change. Where the Board considers premises open to the public — including those of statutory corporations and local authorities — or public services and amenities inaccessible, it may serve an adjustment order after notice, requiring the owner or provider to carry out specified work at their own expense within a stated period. Contravening an adjustment order is an offence carrying a fine up to level 7 or a year's imprisonment, or both. The same order may be sought directly in the High Court, and standing is wide: a person with a disability, a representative organisation, someone acting for a person who cannot act, a class representative, anyone acting in the public interest, or the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission.

Ministry inspectors are designated and certificated to enter premises, question employees and inspect or remove records, subject to consent or reasonable grounds; failing to assist an inspector carries up to level 6 or a year's imprisonment.

Institutionally, the Act establishes the National Disability Affairs Board — ten members drawn from organisations representing persons with disabilities plus members nominated in consultation with the local government, health, education, employer and labour interests — serving four-year terms renewable once, supported by a Director of Disability Affairs. It creates a Register of Organisations of and for Persons with Disabilities, which an organisation must join to receive State grants under the National Plan of Action, and a Register of Projects. It also establishes an Assistance Fund for Persons with Disabilities, funded by parliamentary appropriations, gifts and grants, which gives grants for vocational training centres, skills development, rehabilitation, income-generating projects, subsidised assistive devices and technologies, scholarships, and the training and certification of personal assistants.