nary PWDs know even less, as pointed out by Lits’ipiso Mathlosa in the case of Lesotho: 120 The majority of PWDs have little or no understanding of the CRPD and what it means to PWDs. This has forced the Lesotho National Federation of Organisations of the Disabled (LNFOD) and its member organisations to undertake a variety of advocacy activities on disability rights and campaigns to raise awareness about the CRPD among PWDs and members of the public. However, Mathlosa emphasised that the Lesotho government had ratified the Convention in response to intensive lobbying by the country’s DPOs: 121 After it was opened for signature in 2007, DPOs in Lesotho employed different strategies to put pressure on the government to ratify the Convention. One such strategy was the ‘Joint Open Letter on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ which, together with stakeholders from non-governmental organisations, service providers, international agencies, religious groups and trade unions, wrote to the Prime Minister. This letter outlined the benefits that PWDs would gain if the Convention was ratified. For instance, the stakeholders maintained that the Convention would offer guidance to the government on protecting the rights of the PWDs. Lesotho finally ratified the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities on the 2 December, 2008.
ZAFOD: Best Practice The best exemplar of consistent and productive lobbying and advocacy campaigns appears to be ZAFOD, the DPO umbrella body in Zambia, which counts among its successes that it has caused the Zambian government to (a) ratify the Convention, (b) include a disabilities chapter in the country’s fifth national development plan, and (c) appoint disability focal point people in all line ministries. (The last of these has had disappointing results, as most of these appointees have no knowledge of disability issues.) ZAFOD is also proactive in terms of taking advantage of opportunities offered by legislative changes. On hearing that the country’s Town and Country Planning, Housing and Education Acts were being revised, the body ‘jumped on and made proposals for inclusion or attention to disability issues’.122 Working closely with the Zambia Law Development Commission, its staff members are considering reforms to the country’s criminal justice legislation. They have also, on their own initiative, carried out a review of current mental health legislation, and are lobbying for a repeal of the mental health law. This action was instituted after a prison audit, conducted in concert with the Human Rights Commission, found that a number of people held ‘at the President’s pleasure’ were being housed in prisons rather than in mental hospitals.
Much needs to be done to acquaint the DPO community with the CRPD and make workers in the field of disability rights cognisant of the many ways in which the Convention can serve their cause. This ‘knowyour-CRPD’ campaign should probably start with the development and wide distribution of simplified versions of the Convention document, in formats accessible to people with different kinds of disabilities. There is also an urgent need to include the technical, legal, governance, mainstreaming, monitoring and evaluation aspects involved in the implementation of the Convention in all training programmes for DPO staff. Currently, the preparedness and capability of southern African DPOs to undertake the duties envisaged in the Convention are severely constrained. The involvement of international DPOs active in southern Africa (including ADD, DDP, Power and Handicap International), donors with long experience in the sector, regional and international experts in the disability field, and academics from universities could supply a vast amount of expertise and support that would benefit government departments as well as DPOs. 43 Long-established DPO bodies – such as NASCOH in Zimbabwe, the Botswana Council for the Disabled (BCD), and ZAFOD in Zambia – as well as the newer regional research and capacity building organisation, DHAT, based in Botswana, would also be in a position to make valuable contributions to new programmes. Financial and specialist technical support is also needed if the various processes involved in setting the implementation of the