WeeklySA_AdminCOMPASSION Disabled youths manufacture crutches and wheelchair cushions
By Bongiwe Mkhwanazi
David Mabele’s life changed, drastically, after his son was killed in a fatal motor vehicle accident along a notorious main road in Soweto, Johannesburg known as “Killer Road” 27 years ago. Since then, Mabele has dedicated his life to helping people living with disabilities.
“Actually, I almost lost two kids on that fateful day as my two young sons had used the same taxi from Meadowlands, Soweto to the Yeoville Primary school,” Mabele said. His other son, Lethole, had survived. But the crash had left permanent scars. The boy was now living with a disability. Mabele said a few months later, he met a 13 year old mentally impaired boy named Amos Mothlabane. The Mabele’s had then showered the teenager with so much love that, before long, Mothlabane had brought Ratu Lethole to Mabele’s house. Soon-thereafter, the Mabele household was hosting up 15 young children with disabilities.
To keep the youths busy, Mabele involved the youngsters in stimulating life skills games. One day, when Lethole had reached Grade 11, he had suggested his dad should form a non-governmental organisation (NGO). “He planted a seed that later gave birth to the Mabeleng Disability Forum, which now has 157 mostly young members, who are living with various disabilities,” Mabele said.
Mabele’s NGO was later registered as a non-profit organisation. Mabeleng got support from Andries Grove, a Good Samaritan, who also has a child living with a disability. “Grove donated his time and money to Mabaleng until he retired and had returned to his birthplace of Parys, Free State, recently,” Mabele said, adding that Grove used to help with training the youngsters in different sports. And this had brought life to the NGO’s sports squad, which specialises in several sporting codes.
But Mabele would love to see the youths excelling, academically. “These are intelligent people who also need to learn information communication technology (ICT), and to pursue other careers, out there,” Mabele said. After Mabele had noticed that young NGO’s members had a challenge with the cushioning on their wheelchairs, an idea had come to his mind to train the youths to sew and sell wheelchair cushions. “These seat covers are sewn by them and delivered to CE Mobility, who are wheels and seating specialists together with whom we have partnered, since 2018,” Mabele said.
Mabele said the Mabeleng Disability Forum is also manufacturing and assembling crutches and various walking aids, well as the fabric upholstery which is used on wheelchairs. They had an office to work from in Town and they could not renew their contract as the building became dilapidated with no working lifts making it strenuous and inconvenient for people living with disabilities. Mabele is currently converting his home so that he can house at least ten people at a time, so they could produce the required orders for crutches, walking aids and wheelchair cushions. “Apart from the disability grant the members get, monthly, they also earn a share from the proceeds we get from selling the different products,” said Mabele, whose wife has helped with sewing lessons and cooks for the members
When the Covid-19 pandemic had disrupted production, Mabele’s son, Lethole took a bold that has impressed his loving father. I was impressed by Lethole, who had later approached the nearby Tlhokomelo Special School to look for employment, instead of sitting at home and twiddling his fingers,” Mabele said.
Tlhokomelo, is a school for the disable children which starts from Grade R to grade 11. Lethole, a diehard Orlando Pirates fan who also has impaired speech, told Weekly SA Mirror that his job is to take a daily inventory of the pupils who attend classes at the school.
What is sad is that Mabeleng has no office and a workshop for their products, according to 72 year old Mabeleng Disability Forum co-founder and chairman Napoleon Sibiya, who is a father of four, said he became wheelchair-bound after was stabbed on his spinal cord by thugs who were robbing him of his wages in the late eighties, which had left him paralysed. “The Mabaleng community has no centre, and before the Covid-19 lockdowns, we used to meet under trees or at Mr Mabele’s home, or at a local recreational centre,” Sibiya said.
Apart from sewing NGO was given a piece of land by the City of Joburg to plough and through which to feed their families. But they have no tools to realise their goal. Sibiya said the members could become artisans if they were to be shown the right doors to knock at, since they have been practicing their walking aids and wheelchair cushion production skills for the past 27 years.
