Trevor Manuel was moved our of the Treasury some time ago and has spent much of his time in a new entity called the National Planning Commission (NPC) of South Africa. The NPC is tasked with identifying and responding to the key challenges facing the nation. They are releasing the results of their work in various ways, but I think the best of these is in a series of videos.
The first one worth watching is 10 minutes outlining the 9 most significant challenges facing South Africa. Similar to the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, this lays out a great programme for South Africans to support. Watch it here, or below:
Trevor then personalises these big picture issues by focusing in on just one person: a young person who is facing a tough future in difficult circumstances. He outlines the difficulties she faces, and some of the solutions that will help her. Watch the video here, or below:
As Trevor says, “This must be shared by all South Africans… If as a nation we know where we want to be in 2030, we will share the burden of the journey along the way… there are both costs and benefits to be had. Very importantly, we need to act together in our collective interests.” Precisely right!
What happens to those people OF ALL RACES, GENDERS AND BACKGROUNDS who are born with- or who acquire a disability in their later “normal” lives?
According to the Broad Based Employment Equity Act, 0.6% of the employees in Designated Companies are be People With Disabilities – which I dispute because they’re not in the shops I go into, nor in the sources of media that I consult! This despite the fact that PWD have been found, internationally, to be very punctual, reliable and honest employees. If they get employed, They would also serve to motivate their fellow workers not to complain with their lot in life.
It’s unlikely that you, the reader, have ever thought about this – unless a direct family member of yours has a disability. According to Enable (a UN affiliated organisation that deals with PWD), an estimated 1/3 of the world’s population’s lives are directly affected by disabilities i.e. the PWD and their direct family-members. This problem is known as “The Silent Epidemic” because not much media attention is given to disabilities. I think that TomorrowToday would do well to make Currently Unaffected People (i.e. those whose lives haven’t been affected with a disability … yet) more aware of this real-life problem.
What happens to those people OF ALL RACES, GENDERS AND BACKGROUNDS who are born with- or who acquire a disability in their later “normal” lives?
According to the Broad Based Employment Equity Act, 0.6% of the employees in Designated Companies are be People With Disabilities – which I dispute because they’re not in the shops I go into, nor in the sources of media that I consult! This despite the fact that PWD have been found, internationally, to be very punctual, reliable and honest employees. If they get employed, They would also serve to motivate their fellow workers not to complain with their lot in life.
It’s unlikely that you, the reader, have ever thought about this – unless a direct family member of yours has a disability. According to Enable (a UN affiliated organisation that deals with PWD), an estimated 1/3 of the world’s population’s lives are directly affected by disabilities i.e. the PWD and their direct family-members. This problem is known as “The Silent Epidemic” because not much media attention is given to disabilities. I think that TomorrowToday would do well to make Currently Unaffected People (i.e. those whose lives haven’t been affected with a disability … yet) more aware of this real-life problem.