South Africa: People With Disabilities Demand Better Access to Public Transport

The Disability Revolution group wants the City of Cape Town to include specific measures for people with disabilities in its transport planning

"Public transport for people with disabilities is a nightmare," said Phakama Zembeta, mother of a disabled teenager.

"It's so bad that we have resorted to using e-hailing vehicles each time he needs to go to the clinic which are costly and are sometimes unreliable," said the mother from Eerste River.

She was among about 50 people who, despite the cold and rain, came out to a picket led by the Disability Revolution organisation in Cape Town's Civic Centre. They say the City of Cape Town's Comprehensive Integrated Transport Plan 2023-2028 (CITP) does not include a specific plan for people with disabilities, especially from poor communities and informal settlements.

Zembeta and other protesters say the plan fails "to mention people living with disabilities in informal settlements, who are among the most vulnerable people in the city". They want the City to update the CITP to include a specific transport access plan for disabled people in informal settlements. They also say they were not adequately consulted about the new Dial-A-Ride business plan.

"It shouldn't be this difficult for people with disabilities to use public transport. The government is not doing enough," said Zembeta.

As the group entered the Civic Centre, the City's Oversight Committee chairperson for Urban Mobility, Mikhail Manuel, came to meet them briefly.

Wheelchair user Siyabonga Majozi from Lower Crossroads told Manuel that there was no dignity in taking public transport as a disabled person. "You can be standing at the side of the road, and gesture for a taxi, but it will pass you like you're invisible.

"When one eventually stops and picks me up, the driver is rude. One time a driver told me that my wheelchair takes up the space of another passenger."

Majozi said a trip by train isn't even an option for him because many stations still don't have proper ramps or working lifts. "Imagine having to be carried around by strangers like you are a sack of potatoes to access public transport," said Majozi.

The group's submissions were accepted and signed by Manuel.

This article was originally published in GroundUp.