On 28 July 2025, the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) delivered a speech inviting women and youth to participate in the review of the White Paper on Local Government.

At first glance, this invitation may appear progressive, signaling a commitment to inclusion. Yet beneath the surface lies a glaring omission that cannot be ignored: disabled people were neither invited nor mentioned. This silence is not accidental, it is symptomatic of a deeper political erasure that continues to marginalize millions of South Africans with disabilities.

The Minister’s failure to acknowledge disabled people is not a mere oversight; it is a political statement. By excluding them from the review process, the government reinforces the perception that disability rights are peripheral, optional, or secondary to other struggles.

This omission reveals a disturbing truth: local government does not genuinely care about protecting the human rights of disabled people. It is a deliberate act of exclusion that undermines the very principles of democracy and equality.

Local government structures remain profoundly inaccessible. Council chambers, municipal offices and public hearings often lack ramps, sign language interpreters or accessible documents. These physical and communicative barriers send a clear message that disabled people are not welcome in spaces where decisions about their lives are made.

Policy rhetoric, meanwhile, rarely translates into lived inclusion.

Disabled people are spoken about in abstract terms, often reduced to statistics or symbolic references, but they are rarely given seats at the table where decisions are made. This absence is not benign, it is a denial of agency. When disabled people are excluded from participatory processes, their constitutional rights to equality, dignity and self-representation are violated. Their exclusion compromises the very foundation of human rights in local governance.

This silence is not neutral, it is violent. It perpetuates systemic exclusion and signals that disabled lives are expendable in the political imagination of local governance. The omission also raises uncomfortable questions about political parties represented in municipal councils. If these parties truly cared about disability rights, they would have demanded that disabled people be explicitly included in the White Paper review.

Their silence is complicity, a tacit endorsement of exclusion.

The radical truth is that political parties often use disabled people as campaign props, showcasing them during election seasons to project an image of inclusivity, only to abandon them once governance begins. Councils themselves mirror society’s entrenched ableism. Disabled people are rarely elected as councillors and when they are, their voices are drowned out by party hierarchies that prioritize conformity over authentic representation. Accountability is glaringly absent.

Parties claim to represent “the people,” but their definition of “the people” excludes disabled citizens. This is not just a failure of Cogta, it is a collective betrayal by every political party that sits in council chambers and claims to represent democracy.

If local government is to be truly democratic, disability rights must be placed at the center of the White Paper review. Every political party in councils must be compelled to promote disability rights, not as charity, not as tokenism, but as a radical restructuring of governance. Authentic inclusion requires structural commitments.

At least 10% of council seats should be reserved for disabled people, ensuring that participation is not symbolic but real. Municipal infrastructure, communication and services must meet universal design standards so that disabled people can access governance spaces on equal terms. A fixed percentage of municipal budgets must be dedicated to disability inclusion, monitored by independent watchdogs to prevent corruption and neglect.

Councils should be legally required to report annually on disability rights implementation, creating accountability mechanisms that cannot be ignored. Policies must also embrace intersectional justice, recognising the compounded marginalisation faced by disabled women, youth, and rural communities, whose voices are often erased twice over, once by gender or geography and again by disability.

The Minister’s speech on 28 July 2025 was not just incomplete, it was a betrayal. By omitting disabled people, Cogta reaffirmed the systemic erasure that has long plagued local government. Political parties in councils are equally guilty, for their silence perpetuates exclusion.

If the White Paper review is to mean anything, it must radically reimagine local governance through the lens of disability rights. Anything less is not democracy, it is apartheid by omission.

Lucky Tumahole is a Disability Advocate, this is his opinion.