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President Mugabe shares a lighter moment with Vice President Joice Mujuru, Senior Minister of State Simon Khaya Moyo, Presidential Affairs Minister Didymus Mutasa, Defence Minister Sydney Sekeramai and Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo before his departure for an African Leaders Forum on Disability in Malawi yesterday. — (Picture by Munyaradzi Chamalimba)

Charles Mushinga in LILONGWE, Malawi
President Mugabe arrived here yesterday to attend the African Leaders Forum on Disability.  He was received by Malawian president Joyce Banda and her foreign affairs minister Ephraim Mganda Chiume.He is accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Mr George Charamba, and other government officials.

The two-day forum seeks to improve the welfare of people living with intellectual disabilities in both their social and economic circumstances, and their access to basic human rights.

The President’s attendance is set to spearhead the fight for the rights of the intellectually challenged in Zimbabwe. Malawi’s President Joyce Banda, in partnership with Special Olympics and its board chairman Mr Timothy Shriver, convened the forum to challenge the inequalities facing people with disabilities.

Sexual abuse of people with developmental disabilities is common because of their greater risk of victimisation, and often goes unreported. Most times, the perpetrators are authority figures in the victim’s life.

The developmentally disabled are more prone to such abuse due to reliance on a caregiver, emotional and social insecurities, and a lack of understanding of their situation.
Research suggests that 97 to 99 percent of abusers are known and trusted by the victim.

Most abusers assume the mentally challenged will not report the abuse and, more often than not, they are right.  Malawi and Special Olympics — the largest organisation for people living with disabilities in the world — are hosting the forum together with African leaders, disability and global development organisations, businesses and civil society, and Special Olympics athletes, to make a difference in the largely marginalised lives of people with intellectual disabilities.

The goal is to ensure that global development policies, programmes, organisations, and the post-2015 development agenda are fully inclusive of people with disabilities. Other delegates to the forum include the Chair of the African Union Commission Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, UNESCO director for education Mmantsetsa Marope, Malawi Minister of Disabilities Rachel Kachaje, and Unicef Zimbabwe deputy director Dr Jane Muita.

The forum will conclude tonight with a State dinner hosted by President Banda at Kamuzu Palace.