Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal |109
Put differently, Zimbabwe subscribes to the monist theory of international law which requests
parliamentary approval for a ratified treaty and its incorporation into national law by an Act of
parliament. It is only when these conditions are met that the international treaty has force of law
at the domestic level.
In Zimbabwe, the court could have relied on the force of law provided by the CRPD through the
Disability Act to motivate its decision. This could have been done by the court to clarify its position.
Left with no clarity, the reader of the judgment has to guess, read and interpret the decision in line
with international law and foreign jurisprudence. Notwithstanding this shortcoming, the Bulawayo
High Court has demonstrated that the judiciary in Zimbabwe is inclined to protect disability rights.
5. Concluding Remarks
The aim of this article was to unpack the implications of the decision of the Bulawayo High Court in
the matter between Zimbabwe National League of the Blind v Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency
(ZIMSTAT) and Ors on the protection of disability rights in Zimbabwe in particular, and in Africa
broadly. The paper began with an exploration of the global and regional standards for protection of
the right to employment of PWDs before focusing on the case under discussion. It was found that
at all these levels; PWDs enjoy a normative protection of their right to employment and should not
be discriminated against on the job market on the ground of disabilities.
As for the implication of the National League of the Blind decision on the disability rights discourse,
it echoed the fact that the social model of disability has gained dominance over the medical model
on the imperative of realising significant or substantial equality. This positive development was
illustrated by the declaratory order affirming that “the exclusion of visually impaired persons from
recruitment” for positions afforded to other was discriminatory and was unconstitutional,63 and
subsequently ordered the adoption of mechanisms or reasonable accommodation measures within
63
Para 1 of the Order
Select target paragraph3
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