15 Feb 2019
Zimbabwena civil society and disability sector lost a gallant advocate of the rights of people with disabilities, Tsarai Mungoni.
He was 53.
At the time of his passing Mungoni was the Director of the National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH) and sat in the NANGO, Zimbabwe Election Support Network and National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Boards.
With endorsement from NASCOH, an umbrella body of over 70 organisations of and for people with disabilities, Mungoni served three terms in the NANGO board championing the cause of the socially disadvantaged.
As an advocate for the rights of people with disabilities Mungoni achieved numerous milestones. He successfully carried out Disabled Persons Organisations’ needs assessment and the results were used to implement the rights-based approach to programming whose thrust was the protection and promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities, conducted research to unearth violations of the rights of people with disabilities, and developed a disability advocacy manual and trained 350 disability activists from all the country’s 10 provinces.
Mungoni was part of the team that mobilised disabled persons’ organisations and people with disabilities for the purpose of crafting a National Disability Policy which is currently awaiting government approval, he lobbied for the inclusion of disability in the national Constitution and National AIDS Policy, lobbied for disability mainstreaming, conducted a research on challenges faced by rural women with disabilities and he also co-developed NASCOH’s National Disability Advocacy Strategy.
The late Mungoni held a Masters in Public Policy and Governance, Masters in Business Administration, Bachelor of Social Work Honours Degree and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Law. At the time of his passing he was working on admission into Doctoral studies.
Mungoni passed away on 6 February 2019 and was laid to rest on 8 February 2019 at Nhakiwa village in Murehwa.
Mungoni fought a good fight and his work will forever be remembered.
