High Court rules against detention of hearing and speech impaired people Bulawayo High Court

Thandeka Moyo- Ndlovu, Chronicle Reporter
People living with hearing and speech impairment will not be detained for the coming six months following a High Court ruling that Section 193 of the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act is unconstitutional.

The act allowed detention of persons with hearing and speech impairments who need a sign language interpreter for any communication.

In an application filed by Advocate Francisca Chinwadzimba in August on behalf of the Legal Resources Foundation and the Deaf Zimbabwe Trust, the two organisations argued that Section 193 of the Criminal Procedure and

Evidence Act does not provide reasonable accommodation for accused persons who are deaf and mute in criminal proceedings.

Deaf people account for a majority of people living with disabilities and they are about 15 percent of the total Zimbabwe population.

The Constitution recognises sign language as an official language but the deaf have lamented that it is never used, which leaves them discriminated against. Activists have even called for sign language to be taught in schools so that the deaf have access to every citizen like everyone else.

In the application, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, Attorney General Mr Prince Machaya and Prosecutor General Kumbirai Hodzi were cited as respondents. “Section 193 of CPEA violates the rights of accused persons who are deaf and mute as enshrined in the Constitution. Accordingly, Section 193 (detention of persons who are deaf or mute or both) of the CPEA Chapter 9:07) be and is hereby declared unconstitutional and is suspended for six months to allow the 1st respondent to remove the unconstitutionality by introducing a clause which provides for sign language interpreters,” read the ruling.

“In the absence of a sign language interpreter accused persons who are deaf will not be informed of the charge promptly and will also be denied the right to have proceedings conducted in the language they understand.”The executive director of the Deaf Zimbabwe Trust Ms Barbra Nyangaira said the ruling was a milestone for the deaf who had been challenging the piece of legislation since 2015.

“We are excited as we had been advocating for the reform or I can say the repealing of Section 193 because it violated the rights of accused persons who are deaf and hard of hearing.

“Deaf people commit crimes and also have crimes committed against them and such have to be able to stand before the law and have access to justice,” said Ms Nyangaira.

“We began this journey in 2015 when the bill for amending the act was put forward to parliament we participated in the public hearings.

“We sent in our submissions to parliament but our amendments were not taken on board that is why we had to resort to strategic litigation because we had been engaging the Ministry over the issue for a long time.”

She said the deaf hoped to see the day when sign language will be implemented in all spheres including the health sector education, politics and job opportunities.

“We are very worried that we do not have access to any sector but if given a chance the deaf can study and even become doctors as long as they have means to communicate.

“We hope this ruling will open many other doors that will see the deaf and hard hearing enjoying their rights as citizens of Zimbabwe.”

Mr Douglas Mapeta a sign language rights activist urged policy makers to implement policies that have been crafted in favour of the deaf people.

He said the deaf did not benefit anything from the publicly disseminated information on the deadly Covid-19 because there was no sign language interpretation.

He said sign language should be embraced so that the deaf are able to exercise all their rights in Zimbabwe.

“This judgment calls for a celebration though it is just a drop in the ocean because many judgments have been passed before in favour of the deaf but there is less done when it comes to implementation,” he said.

“During the lockdown everyone was panicked and people kept spreading messages on how to prevent Covid and unfortunately the deaf were not catered for.”

According to Mr Mapeta a majority of the deaf do not know about the law, by-laws and even their constitutional rights as these have not been interpreted to them.

He added that the reason why many of them are littered on the streets selling is because they have not been given a chance to equally participate in any sector.

“This judgment was passed last week and only a handful of the deaf know of it because there is no one to interpret for them.

“We have advocated that sign language interpreters be there even on TV for news, announcements and even during rallies and churches with no luck,” he added. — @thamamoe

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