Philisa Abafazi Bethu Family Centre

Lavender Hill is the starting point of Philisa Abafazi Bethu's story. Despite its name, Lavender Hill — a community on the Cape Flats with a population of roughly 100,000, formed under the apartheid Group Areas Act of 1950 — is not a place of flowering gardens. It is characterised by high rates of gang violence, drug abuse, and crime, with five informal settlements and layers of socioeconomic exclusion that have made it one of Cape Town's most consistently underserved communities.

It was here, in 2008, that Philisa Abafazi Bethu was founded. The name, drawn from isiZulu, means "Heal Our Women." The organisation's base has since moved to 55 Strauss Road in Steenberg, but it continues to serve Lavender Hill and the surrounding Cape Flats communities. Its German partners — including the Consulate General of Germany in Cape Town and the Friends of Philisa Abafazi Bethu e.V. (a German civil society partner that channels European donations to PAB) — reflect the international attention this community-rooted organisation has attracted.

PAB is now one of the most comprehensive community-level GBV and family support organisations operating on the Cape Flats, with a range of services that is genuinely unusual for a community-based NPO: four distinct safe houses serving four different survivor groups, a Baby Saver, a search-and-rescue team, social work services, feeding, youth programmes, and male engagement work — all from a single community-embedded centre.

Emergency Safe Houses — Four Houses, Four Communities

In 2012, PAB opened its first emergency safe house for abused women. Since then, responding to clear community need, it has opened three more:

• Safe House for Women (opened 2012) — Emergency safe accommodation for women fleeing domestic violence and gender-based violence.
• Safe House for LGBTQIA+ Persons (opened 2021) — One of very few dedicated LGBTQIA+ GBV safe houses in South Africa. In a context where LGBTQIA+ survivors frequently face rejection, re-traumatisation, or exclusion from mainstream shelters, this represents a critical and rare provision.
• Safe House for Children (opened 2024) — Dedicated safe accommodation for children in crisis — complementing the existing child outreach and child protection work of the organisation.
• Safe House for Heterosexual Cis-Men (opened 2024) — Male GBV survivors are among the most invisible in South Africa's service landscape; this safe house directly addresses that gap.

All four safe houses operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a house mother on duty around the clock providing care and support. PAB works closely with SAPS and the Department of Social Development to ensure that all clients have the protection and legal support they need to take action against their abusers.

After-hours emergency: 081 746 9889

Baby Saver

Installed at 55–57 Strauss Road, Steenberg, PAB's Baby Saver is a metal drop-box connected to a silent alarm that immediately alerts a private security company and the organisation's director when a baby is placed inside. The box can only be opened from inside the house, ensuring the baby's safety from the moment of placement. Babies received through the Baby Saver are immediately transferred to medical care and the DSD child protection services are alerted.

PAB acknowledges that the current Children's Act does not make provision for safe relinquishment — meaning mothers who use the Baby Saver remain at legal risk. PAB explicitly advocates for a change in the law. Women who do not want to use the Baby Saver but need emergency protection for themselves and their newborn can contact PAB directly: 081 746 9889.

René Roman Search and Rescue Team

On 10 March 2017, 13-year-old René Tracey Roman from Lavender Hill was kidnapped, raped, and murdered. Only two weeks after her disappearance, community members found her body near her home. In her memory, PAB founded the René Roman Search and Rescue Team — a community-based child protection service whose trained members know the area intimately, follow structured search plans, and coordinate closely with local police when children go missing. The team also intervenes when children are found to be neglected at home.

Additional Programmes

Social Work Services — Professional social work support for individuals and families navigating crises, abuse, child protection matters, and community issues.

Afterschool Programmes and Youth Programme — Supporting children and young people in Lavender Hill and Steenberg with academic support, safe space, and structured activities — a protective factor in a community where gang recruitment of young people is an ongoing reality.

Women Empowerment — Skills development, awareness, and support for women in the community — building economic and personal independence alongside the direct crisis services.

Senior Programme — Care and support for elderly community members, who are frequently overlooked in violence and welfare programming.

Men's Café — An engagement space for men — recognising that meaningful change in GBV requires the active involvement of men as allies, and that men too may need support and a space to address harmful patterns of behaviour.

Community Feeding — Regular feeding for community members in need — addressing food insecurity as a baseline need and as a prerequisite for engagement in other programmes.

Philisa Abafazi Bethu: 55 Strauss Road, Steenberg, Cape Town. Office hours: +27 (0)21 565 0668. After hours/emergency: +27 (0)81 746 9889. Email: admin@philisaabafazi.org. NPO 104-870. Facebook: PhilisaAbafazi. Instagram: philisaabafazibethu.