Mugabe commends JB for welfare of disabled

President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe yesterday commended President Joyce Banda on her efforts to support the disabled in the country.

Speaking in Lilongwe during the first ever African Leaders Forum on Disability, Mugabe said in his country efforts have been made to accommodate disabled people in all levels of the sectors.

“Iwant to congratulate President Banda for appointing a disabled person on higher rank as a Cabinet minister. In my country, we have never done such a thing despite giving them other positions,” he said.

Mugabe said some positions in his political party are given to people with disability as one way of encouraging them to do things that they are able to do.

The country’s Minister of Disability and Elderly Affairs, Rachel Kachaje, uses a wheelchair for her mobility.

Banda said she gives 30 percent of her salary every month to the Malawi Confederation for the Handicapped (Macoha) an organisation that helps to empower disabled people.

Mugabe, who was speaking on the theme ‘Ability in a New Africa’, said he will help Malawi in her efforts to fight against discrimination on disabled people.