NK Ndlovu played big role in NCDPZ
EDITOR — The history of the icon Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu, NK, as we affectionately called him, is not complete without mention of the great contribution he made in the field of disability.
At the time of his passing away, NK was a Trustee of Freedom House, a Social Centre of NCDPZ, built on a piece of land donated by the Bulawayo City Council in the early 1980s when he was Mayor of the city.
The other Trustees are Cephas Dungeni and Abner Botsh.
Influenced by the war of liberation values, which centred on the human rights and dignity for all persons, a rights-based organisation of persons with disabilities, NCDPZ was founded in 1975. Role models of the NCDPZ were people like NK who had led programmes of persons with disabilities at the Jairos Jiri School in Nguboyenja, before his incarceration.
One of his students at Jairos Jiri, Cde Joshua Malinga, became a pioneer chairman of the NCDPZ and rose to become the first African to be president of the Disabled Peoples International (DPI).
The election of NK Ndlovu as first black mayor of Bulawayo opened new doors for persons with disabilities not only in Bulawayo but Zimbabwe as a whole.
Bulawayo led the way in advocating for Government programmes to be disability inclusive. NCDPZ, with its head offices in Bulawayo, created its branches all over the country where lobby and advocacy programmes for inclusive living were championed.
The engagement with legislators and the executive led to the formulation of the Disabled Persons Act of 1992, were a permanent structure, the National Disability Board was created, under the Ministry of Labour, Public Service and Social Services.
Bulawayo is the home of the disability movement in Zimbabwe, with the majority of disabled persons organisations being found in this city. We attribute this to the contribution of our departed hero NK Ndlovu.
The best way to celebrate the life of Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu is for the Government to repeal the out-dated Disabled Persons Act of 1992. Also, there is an urgent need for the domestication of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) that was ratified by our government in 2013.
We say to NK Ndlovu, we shall always remember your humble and quiet contribution to the disability movement in Zimbabwe.
You gave us the tools to fight all forms of oppression and we promise you that…We shall not disappoint you.
Rest In Peace! Dr Obadiah Thembani Moyo president National Council of Disabled Persons of Zimbabwe (NCDPZ).