Ilitha Labantu
Children in Cape Town

Ilitha Labantu is a social service and educational organization with a specific focus on addressing violence against women and children and supporting those affected by it.
When Ilitha Labantu started it was the only organization in the Western Cape that served to empower township women and to address issues related to gender violence.
Ilitha Labantu is committed to empowerment through education and participatory practices.

Ilitha Labantu is a walk in center, no appointments are required. Counseling takes place when a counsellor sees a client in a private and confidential setting to explore a difficulty the client is having, distress they may be experiencing or perhaps their dissatisfaction with life, or loss of a sense of direction and purpose. Ilitha Labantu has various support groups and has partnered with many brother and sister support groups that clients can join. A support group is a collective or group of people with the same problem or have faced the similiar problems. Although Ilitha Labantu primary core service is face-to-face counselling as a means to reach the masses, it also offers telephone Counselling through the use of its hotline service. The Dorothy Zihlangu Shelter, also known as the shelter, is specifically for battered and abused women and their children and it offers immediate shelter for up to three months for women and their children. Ilitha Labantu has qualified paralegals and lawyers who assistant clients on a daily baises on any legal matters. Providing emotional support, practical advice and education around the problem of violence against women. At that time it was the only organization in any black township of Cape Town providing emotional support, practical advice and education around the problem of violence against women. The organization developed out of hands of Mandisa Monakali and dedicated community workers of a handful committed women from the township who were not able to find somewhere to go for their needs. To assist in the elimination of all kinds of domestic violence especially those that occur in the domestic domain where the ideology of privacy is strong and to provide access to support and counselling. As the issue of violence against women and children, Counseling plays an integral part of Ilitha Labantu programs. Perhaps the most urgent and crisis-driven aspect of Ilitha Labantu work is to provide counseling to township women and children who have suffered abuse and violence. Drop in centers for affected people seeking counseling to come, discuss their problems & get advice. In partnership with schools the program is designed towards sensitizing our educators, youth and children to be socially conscious. As an organization we want to produce a youth that is vigilant in asserting themselves as well as a youth that will be responsible for their own actions. And the only way to achieve such a goal is by developing programs and educational material that will reach children at an early age. Transitional house program, also known as the shelter, is specifically for battered and abused women and their children and that offers immediate shelter for up to three months for women and their children who are victims of relationship violence and abuse. Any women, with or without children, who has been physically, emotionally, verbally, financially, psychologically or sexually abused. The house assists women who are taking their children away from abusive situations. The overall aim of Building Bridges is to combine life experience with appropriate job readiness skills. The program is a unique employment training initiative designed for abused women and young women who have experience abuse and early pregnancy. The program takes a holistic approach to employment preparation by addressing individuals’ physical, social, emotional and intellectual facets. To share experiences across the South African and other African Country’ cultures.