Deaf pastor and leader of the Masidumise Deaf Fellowship Phumelele Jemane has called on people living with disabilities to unite in the fight against being “excluded” from society.
Jemane, who is on a mission to fight for the rights of the deaf community, was speaking following his sermon at his NU17 church.
Last week Jemane – who lives in King William’s Town – lambasted Buffalo City Metro for failing to include the deaf in its municipal programmes.
Speaking through an interpreter, Jemane said he was outraged that many deaf BCM residents had missed out on the crucial four-week-long Integrated Development Plan (IDP) roadshows held by BCM from last month.
“Deaf people have been completely excluded from society. The metro does not cater for them in big meetings such as the IDP meetings. We go there and cannot understand a thing that is being said and even when I want to say something, there is no one to help me get the message across. It is like the metro forgets there are deaf people in the wards.
“We are pleading with the government to cater for us and the blind. We need our rights to be recognised. We need more interpreters to be hired by our government so there is fairness to everyone,” Jemane added.
The Masidumise Deaf Fellowship members hold their Sunday services in the garage of one of their church members. The church has about 80 members, many of them in their teens and twenties.
Jemane said he started the church in 2011 with the hope of catering for deaf people who often felt lonely in other churches as there were no interpreters.
“I was based in Gauteng but after I graduated in theology in 2010, I decided to return home and help my people. We have about 80 members in our church but because the garage we use is small, people don’t always come and that is the biggest challenge,” Jemane said.
Church member Nolundi Matshisi said the church gave them a sense of belonging in a world where deaf people were not catered for.
“We offer counselling for our members as some of them are abused at home. We want to be an asset to our communities but no one is willing to listen to us. In NU17 we wanted to open a creche for deaf children. However, our application for land was not approved,” Matshisi said.
She added that the deaf community was also lacking job opportunities and only survived on grants, something they wanted to change.
Deputy mayor Xola Pakati said the appeal from the deaf community was “fair criticism” as the metro had failed to provide interpreters.
“It is not deliberate. However, we do admit that in that process we were not fair to them.
“So now that the request was made by the deaf people, we will make sure that in the next IDP road shows there are sign language interpreters to cater for them,” Pakati said. — mamelag@dispatch.co.za
Deaf churchman slams exclusion
Jemane, who is on a mission to fight for the rights of the deaf community, was speaking following his sermon at his NU17 church.
Last week Jemane – who lives in King William’s Town – lambasted Buffalo City Metro for failing to include the deaf in its municipal programmes.
Speaking through an interpreter, Jemane said he was outraged that many deaf BCM residents had missed out on the crucial four-week-long Integrated Development Plan (IDP) roadshows held by BCM from last month.
“Deaf people have been completely excluded from society. The metro does not cater for them in big meetings such as the IDP meetings. We go there and cannot understand a thing that is being said and even when I want to say something, there is no one to help me get the message across. It is like the metro forgets there are deaf people in the wards.
“We are pleading with the government to cater for us and the blind. We need our rights to be recognised. We need more interpreters to be hired by our government so there is fairness to everyone,” Jemane added.
The Masidumise Deaf Fellowship members hold their Sunday services in the garage of one of their church members. The church has about 80 members, many of them in their teens and twenties.
Jemane said he started the church in 2011 with the hope of catering for deaf people who often felt lonely in other churches as there were no interpreters.
“I was based in Gauteng but after I graduated in theology in 2010, I decided to return home and help my people. We have about 80 members in our church but because the garage we use is small, people don’t always come and that is the biggest challenge,” Jemane said.
Church member Nolundi Matshisi said the church gave them a sense of belonging in a world where deaf people were not catered for.
“We offer counselling for our members as some of them are abused at home. We want to be an asset to our communities but no one is willing to listen to us. In NU17 we wanted to open a creche for deaf children. However, our application for land was not approved,” Matshisi said.
She added that the deaf community was also lacking job opportunities and only survived on grants, something they wanted to change.
Deputy mayor Xola Pakati said the appeal from the deaf community was “fair criticism” as the metro had failed to provide interpreters.
“It is not deliberate. However, we do admit that in that process we were not fair to them.
“So now that the request was made by the deaf people, we will make sure that in the next IDP road shows there are sign language interpreters to cater for them,” Pakati said. — mamelag@dispatch.co.za
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