LLM Study Advocates for the Rights of Children with Disabilities

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While the South African Constitution affords the right to basic education to all citizens, scores of children with disabilities remain out of school in the country.

This anomaly prompted Mr Silomo Khumalo to embark on a research study which earned him a Master of Laws in Constitutional Litigation degree from UKZN.

Khumalo is one of 101 graduates with disabilities who were lauded at UKZN recently.

His thesis was titled: Compulsory School-Going Age for Learners with Disabilities in South Africa: Analysis of the Right of Access to Basic Education. His supervisors were legal experts, Dr Willene Holness and Ms Judy Parker.

As a person living with visual impairment, the access to education for children with disabilities is close to his heart having experienced challenges throughout his life.

Khumalo’s dissertation highlighted the failure of the Minister of Basic Education to proclaim the required compulsory school-going ages for such children to extend access to their right to basic education as enshrined in section 29 of the Constitution and in other international legal instruments such as the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

Khumalo’s work engaged comparative legal studies with a focus on the Kenyan legal framework in respect of the provision of education for children with disabilities. The study found similar contextual backgrounds between Kenya and South Africa in relation to the disparities and segregation of children with disabilities in the general education system of the respective countries. However, it appeared that with the recent constitutional changes in Kenya, the right to compulsory education for children with disabilities has received further protection.

The study recommends that the Minister proclaim compulsory school-going ages for children with disabilities as required in section 3(2) of the Schools Act, and in doing so, give effect to the prescripts of inclusive education as it is defined in White Paper 6 on Inclusive Education.

As an Assistant Director in the Department for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities where he has been deployed to serve in the secretariat to the Presidential Working Group on Disability - an advisory body to the President on disability issues, Khumalo’s study aims to benefit many children with disabilities who have been denied their right to access to compulsory schooling as with their counterparts, primarily due to the lack of will power on the part of government to enforce existing legislative and policy framework so as to transform the lives of persons with disabilities and enable them to participate meaningfully in society.

On his new qualification he said: ‘I believe that the master’s study has enhanced my research skills which will be very useful in future once I get the opportunity to join the Bar and practise on issues relating to disability rights and administrative law.’

Frustrated by challenges faced by people with disabilities he said: ‘We have to work extremely hard to prove ourselves that with adequate support, we are capable and deserve an opportunity. So, studying is one of the ways to demonstrate that one is capable of achieving the same milestones as others.

Khumalo has the following qualifications: Bachelor of Social Sciences, Bachelor of Social Sciences Honours in Public Policy, Bachelor of Laws and now the LLM - all from UKZN.

He is grateful to UKZN’s Disability Support Unit (DSU) which functions as a support to students with disabilities and as an advocate to ensure their rights within the living and learning spaces at UKZN are recognised.

‘Having done all my qualifications through UKZN, I know that the University has reasonably available resources to support students with visual impairments. These include computer labs with necessary software to conduct desk-top research and do assignments. The DSU assisted me with converting print materials into electronic or braille versions suitable for students with visual impairments.

‘I was also fortunate to have very supportive supervisors who really had confidence in me and wanted me to succeed. They never lost hope and encouraged me despite missing deadlines due to my slow nature of execution and other personal issues that would have caused me not to complete [my] studies,’ he said.

While Khumalo has added the LLM degree to his list of qualifications, he is concerned that there are many qualified persons with disabilities who are unemployed, yet government is not meeting its target for the employment of persons with disabilities, because of negative attitudes towards the ability of such individuals to perform satisfactorily.

Committed to advocating for the rights of persons with disabilities, Khumalo plans to convert parts of his dissertation for publication in various accredited journal articles with support from his supervisors.

Proud of Khumalo’s achievement, Holness said: ‘Silomo is a remarkable person and his research is vital as part of the advocacy and legal reform needed to ensure the realisation of the right to education of children with disabilities.’ 

Khumalo’s notable experiences include serving at both the Constitutional and Supreme Court of Appeal. In 2018 he was selected as one of the Mandela Washington Fellowship Awardees - a flagship programme of the US Department of State, wherein young leaders from across Africa travel to the US and receive training at universities on various leadership themes.

Words: Hazel Langa

Photograph: Abhi Indrarajan