Lowveld PWD Access Half Marathon preps on course

Edmore Zvinonzwa

Preparations for the Persons With Disability Half Marathon scheduled for March 16 in the lowveld are progressing well with participating athletes registering for the event.

Organised by the Research Hub for Children with Disability, in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Coalition for Debt and Development, the half marathon is aimed at fundraising for people with disability.

Patron of ReHUB CD, Dr Olivia Gumbo said: “The run is starting from Triangle Country Club to Chiredzi on March 16. We are encouraging many people to be involved.

“All the proceeds are going to programmes for people with disabilities. The run is open for everyone wand people are registering online through Eves. After this event, we will have the second Paralympics,” she said.

ReHUB coordinator, Admire Munava said he PWD Access Half Marathon is a run to recognise persons with disabilities.

“Ideally, the run is a call to the relevant authorities to give access to persons with disabilities to be able to participate in Public Finance Management Processes, especially to be consulted during budget consultative meetings as well as access to monitor and track budget expenditure to ensure that disability allocations are reaching out to the intended beneficiaries.

He added that the half marathon is a resemblance of citizens who are scrambling for the scarce resources - the fastest and abled will take all, yet those with disabilities will remain at the peripheries without access to these few resources.

Munava said the response from athletes has been overwhelming. “So far, we have had an overwhelming response from athletes countrywide. We are hoping to have a full subscription by the time we come close to the day. Even the relevant government departments and other stakeholders are very much keen to be part of this day. We believe in collective effort as opposed to confrontational approach to our challenges as a countries. We are all fighting the big elephant in the room, disability inclusion, and we applaud government for the steps they have taken so far to have the National Disability Policy.- our hope is to have a full review of the disabled persons Act to be in line with the UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities.

“We further urge the government to sign and ratify the African Disability Protocol,” Munava told Zim Now in an interview.

The ReHUBCD coordinator said there are three distances that will be run and they are categorised by the routes which will be well labelled and there will be ushers to assist on the routes. The vests will also be labelled differently with varying colour codes to determine the distances one will be running. We are saying it is Raising Awareness on Accessibility for Disability. Registration is US$20 and it opened on February 1,” he added.

Last year, ReHUBCD held the first paralympics at Boli in Chiredzi South where over 100 children living with disability gathered for the competitions.

The children, who were drawn from seven schools in the constituency, were competing following a two-year break from sport caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has ravaged economies and bartered people’s living conditions.

Speaking ahead of the event then, Dr Gumbo said they chose Chiredzi South because it is remote and is one of the most marginalised areas in the country.

“Initially, the whole idea originated after my personal interaction with one woman who lives with disability and comes from that place. We picked on Chiredzi South as a pilot constituency because of the marginalisation of the area and it is mainly inhabited by a minority community in the country,” Gumbo said then.