The transitional house program 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.
The organization was established after it became clear that the problem of violence against women and children represented a critical obstacle to development in township communities.
When Ilitha Labantu the brain child of Mandisa Monakali, started it was the only organization in the Western Cape
that served to empower township women and to address issues related to domestic violence, political violence
and abuse of women and children’s rights.
The organization developed of community work conducted by handful of committed women from the township.
Ilitha Labantu has now grown and has established satellite offices in five provinces in both townships and rural
areas. Ilitha is the only organization in the area that provides this service in an accessible way because of its
location within the residential areas of its target group in a language that is understandable and used by survivors.
There are other organizations in South Africa that render services of similar kind. However, their services are not
easily accessible to many survivors of violence in the townships and rural communities.
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.
litha Labantu strives to end violence against women and children in disadvantaged communities (townships and rural areas).