Abstract

Lack of disability accessible services is commonplace in many African countries. This includes health care, educational, recreational and transportation services amongst many others. In Zimbabwe in particular, the deteriorating socio-economic situation has exposed the glaring insufficiencies of the public transport system. The expression that best describes this situation is neglect and discrimination. This paper illustrates the inaccessibility and discriminatory nature of public transport in Zimbabwe and highlights the causes and consequences of this situation. Mixed qualitative methods including observations and a review of various literature sources have been used to support the assertions made in this paper. The findings discussed here reveal that the discrimination of persons with disabilities emanates from within government structures, thus making it difficult for any progress to be made, as far as developing accessible public transportation services for persons with disabilities.

Key words: Disability, Zimbabwe, public transport, discrimination, accessibility.