Accessibility

Sebenza targets WCAG 2.2 Level AAacross every surface public pages, seeker and employer dashboards, and the government analytics portal. Accessibility is one of the platform’s founding rules, not a retrofit: every page is designed to be usable on a low-end Android phone over a 3G connection, with keyboard and screen-reader access as the default, never an add-on.

• Keyboard access everywhere. Every interactive control including our custom dropdowns, date pickers, and multi-select fields works with a keyboard alone, with visible focus indicators throughout.
• Skip links + landmarks.Every page carries a “skip to main content” link and a proper landmark structure so screen-reader users aren’t forced through navigation on every page.
• Labelled forms. Every input routes through labelled form components no unlabelled fields.
• Reduced motion respected. The little animation we use (we deliberately use very little) switches off when your device asks for reduced motion.
• Readable contrast. Our text palette clears the 4.5:1 contrast floor; accent colours are reserved for non-text emphasis.
• Small screens first. Layouts are designed at 360px width first and tested there; nothing essential is hidden on a phone.
• Low-data by design. Pages stay light (no video backgrounds, no heavy animation), and a data-saver mode trims images further on metered connections.
• Language. Pages declare their language per locale so screen readers pronounce content correctly.

Honesty is a platform rule, so here is what’s not finished:

• Our accessibility testing currently combines automated static checks with manual keyboard and screen-reader passes; a fully automated in-browser test suite is on our roadmap.
• The interface is currently English-first. isiZulu, isiXhosa, and Afrikaans are being professionally translated (never machine-translated for legal and consent copy); further official languages follow.
• Some older PDF-style exports (e.g. printable policy briefs) may not yet be fully screen-reader optimised.

If any part of Sebenza is hard or impossible for you to use with a screen reader, keyboard, switch device, magnification, or anything else we want to know. Email popia@sebenzasa.com with the page and what happened. Accessibility reports are treated as defects, not feedback they get fixed, not filed.

This statement is reviewed alongside our internal accessibility audit and updated whenever the platform’s accessibility posture materially changes.