Disability activists move through the Civic Centre to disrupt a meeting of the Urban Mobility Portfolio Committee.
On Thursday morning, disability activists disrupted an Urban Mobility Portfolio Committee meeting at the Civic Centre over planned cuts to the City of Cape Town’s Dial-a-Ride service.
Among them were users of the transport service and representatives from Disability Revolution, QuadPara Association of South Africa, and #UniteBehind.
The municipality announced last month that from Monday, 8 September, the service will only be available for people who use wheelchairs or have severe walking impairments.
People with visual and cognitive impairments, elderly people, and organisations using the service to transport people with disabilities will no longer be accommodated.
Disability organisations have written an open letter to the municipality, started a petition, protested and launched a BackaBuddy fundraising campaign to stop the planned cuts.
The Western Cape Network on Disability has also launched an urgent application in the Cape High Court, which is set down to be heard on Friday.
Chairing Thursday’s meeting, the City’s Oversight Committee chairperson for Urban Mobility, Mikhail Manuel said: “There will be no discussions or questions regarding Dial-a-Ride, as there will be a separate session for that in October.”
But as one of the councillors started their presentation regarding the Urban Mobility budget, Revolution Disability member Khanyo Mantshi switched on his desk microphone and spoke.
“So we are not going to talk about the decisions regarding Dial-a-Ride, but we are told we have freedom in this country?” said Mantshi. “What freedom when decisions are made about us without us? Why is the Dial-a-Ride issue only going to be discussed next month?”
Coordinator at Disability Revolution, Nontsasa Mteza, also took the mic, saying: “I am so disappointed because Dial-a-Ride is a burning issue for the committee.”
“Last year we were promised by the portfolio committee that we would be invited to meetings, but we have received not one invite to participate in these meetings,” #UniteBehind’s political education and materials coordinator Adam Narain said at the meeting.
After voicing their concerns, the representatives left the meeting.
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The #StopTheWarOnDrugs campaign addresses the impact of drug policies on communities and individuals.
Classy Dancer
A buddy in Cape Town saw some dude cat calling a coloured woman with that kst kst kst sound, so she turns around and says \”What? You got a puncture in your face or something??\”
Ozzie Treat
Fun South African Fact: South African Dr. Christiaan Barnard performed the world’s first heart transplant on 3 December 1967 at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town. The groundbreaking surgery was carried out on Louis Washkansky and Dr. Barnard was assisted by a large and exceptional team of surgeons, nurses and technicians. One of Dr. Barnard’s assistants was Hamilton Naki, a black laboratory assistant who had worked previously as a gardener and went on to work in the animal laboratory at the University of Cape Town. He had assisted Dr Barnard with research leading to the transplant. In the apartheid days, Naki had no access to higher education due to his race. Despite being unable to access formal training, he learned from and assisted university researchers and went on to do astonishing work.