Mustadafin Foundation

The Mustadafin Foundation is one of Cape Town's most enduring and respected welfare organisations — established in 1986 in the middle of the apartheid era, when political violence in Crossroads tore through families and left women and children devastated and without resources. A group of committed community members, led by then-13-year-old Ghairunisa Johnstone-Cassiem, walked into informal settlements and began providing food, clothing, healthcare, and trauma counselling. Nearly 40 years later, that commitment has never wavered.

Today the Mustadafin Foundation is recognised as one of South Africa's top five welfare and relief organisations, feeds 15,000 people daily across South Africa, employs 65 staff, and works in townships across the Western Cape and Eastern Cape. They are led and staffed predominantly by women — with a 95% female staff complement — and their director, Ghairunisa Johnstone-Cassiem, is one of the most experienced and respected GBV activists in the Western Cape. Despite being rooted in the Muslim community, Mustadafin explicitly and actively serves people of all faiths and backgrounds.

They operate on a powerful conviction: GBV is a year-round crisis, not a 16-days-a-year issue. Their work reflects this — integrating GBV prevention and survivor empowerment into every programme they run.

What They Offer Survivors

Trauma Counselling Trauma counselling has been part of Mustadafin's offering since they first opened their doors in 1986 — and it remains a cornerstone of their work today. If you are in one of the Cape Flats communities they serve and need to talk to someone, Mustadafin's counsellors are there.

GBV Awareness and Survivor Empowerment Mustadafin integrates GBV education and survivor empowerment across their community work — running dedicated awareness campaigns and events throughout the year, not only during 16 Days of Activism. Their GBV work is explicitly linked to creating safer communities for women, challenging silence, and empowering survivors to speak out.

The Boyhood Programme — Preventing GBV in the Next Generation Mustadafin's Boyhood programme works with boys and young men in Cape Flats communities — addressing the socialisation into gangsterism, violence, and harmful masculinity that fuels GBV. The programme guides young men into adulthood with positive role models, healthy values, and an understanding of gender equality. This is upstream prevention work that directly benefits women and girls in the community.

Isibindi Child and Youth Care Programme (Tafelsig) 25 trained, employed community child and youth care workers work 365 days a year in Tafelsig — and have identified over 1,000 children who have dropped out of school or never attended. This programme addresses the conditions that make children most vulnerable to harm, exploitation, and abuse.

Home-Based Care and Health Outreach Seven home-based carers visit terminally ill community members. Community awareness is created around HIV/AIDS, TB, cancer, and teenage pregnancy. This integrated health-community approach directly serves women who may be living with HIV as a result of sexual violence.

Emergency Food Relief — 15,000 People Daily Mustadafin feeds 15,000 people across South Africa every day. For survivors who are food insecure — particularly those who have just left an abusive situation and have nothing — Mustadafin's feeding programmes in communities across the Cape Flats provide immediate, practical relief.

Accommodation and Material Relief Emergency accommodation, clothing, and material relief are available to those in crisis — following the original model with which the Foundation was built.

Skills Development and Job Creation Sewing classes, youth development programmes, adult literacy, and broader skills training help community members — particularly women — build economic independence.

Educare Centres and Bursaries Mustadafin establishes and supports educare centres, provides bursaries for tertiary study, facilitates adult literacy programmes, and trains preschool teachers — building the educational foundation that breaks cycles of poverty and vulnerability.

Disaster Relief When disaster strikes, Mustadafin responds — they provided relief to 28,500 people during the 2008 xenophobia attacks in the Western Cape, responded to fires in Grabouw, and coordinated mass community cooking during COVID-19 lockdowns.

Mustadafin serves Cape Flats communities from their base in Athlone. Call 021 633 0010 or visit mustadafin.org.za to find out what is available in your community.