Ilitha Labantu Fight Against Gender Based Violence with Siyabulela Monakali

Gender based violence continues to effect the population in Cape Town and South Africa as a whole. Ilitha Labantu is an organization that strives to end violence and abuse against women and children in disadvantaged communities. Their vision is to assist in the elimination of all kinds of violence especially those that occur in the domestic domain where ideology of privacy is strong. They are also celebrating their 35th anniversary. In 35 years they have developed many holistic services that empower survivors of gender-based violence.

Ilitha Labantu's philosophy centers around empathy, confidentiality, professionalism, listening, providing assistance, equality, integrity, and accountability. They offer clinical department resources, policy and advocacy, outreach and education, building of bridges with facilitating skills development, and a transitional house. Today we spoke to Siyabulela Monakali, the communication manager and head of outreach/education department of Ilitha Labantu.

 We made sure to ask Siyabulela about the services that Ilitha Labantu offers, how the organization has shifted over the years, how they combat against gender-based violence as well as their 5th annual High tea. The theme of their high tea is "Empowering Women Changing Lives" and it is supporting the Dorothy Zihlangu Transitional House. Siyabulela talk about various aspects such as how they provide psychosocial services, clinical department and providing support. He explain that they try to expand on the skills that are taught in schools, they want women to be survivors, and that you can walk into their center without an appointment. They offer training with police services for example and they want to eliminate the stigma that comes with discussing GBV especially in townships.

You can learn more about Ilitha Labantu does by checking them out on all social media platforms @ilithalabantu and reaching out to them if you need.