SIYAKHOLWA SUPPORT CARE CENTRE

Siyakholwa Support Care Centre was not established with government funding, donor backing, or an institutional mandate. It was founded in 2010 by Nomvuyo Munyu — a community member in Ronderbult Ext 2, Germiston, who noticed the needs around her, bought a site from her own resources, renovated the structure, and began building what is now one of Ekurhuleni's most active grassroots community organisations. The name Siyakholwa means "We Believe" — a statement of faith in communities and in people.

Ronderbult Ext 2 is an informal settlement with high levels of HIV/AIDS (reflected in Siyakholwa's figure that 99% of its beneficiaries are HIV-positive), poverty, unemployment, and the associated vulnerabilities including GBV, child neglect, and food insecurity. Siyakholwa's response has been deliberately broad and community-embedded: it does not focus on one issue but on the constellation of needs that characterise life in an informal settlement, and it brings services to people through mobile and satellite programmes rather than expecting people to travel to a centre.

As a registered NPO (081-367) and PBO (Section 18A, IT000234/2018), Siyakholwa has formal accountability structures — and has managed to maintain registration and operation in the face of what its own documentation describes as chronic underfunding.

What They Offer

Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) Programme Siyakholwa's core mandate is children — specifically orphaned, vulnerable, disabled, and disadvantaged children from 5 to 17 years. Services include in-centre daily care, a Saturday soup kitchen, mobile toy library, monthly food parcels, afterschool support, and parenting and family support programmes for primary caregivers. With 870 children in-centre and over 2,290 on a waiting list, demand dramatically outstrips current capacity.

GBV Awareness and Survivor Support Siyakholwa explicitly includes GBV survivor support and women's rights education in its mandate — working to educate women and girls about GBV, provide human rights education, and connect survivors with appropriate services. As a mobile, community-embedded organisation operating in an informal settlement, much of this work takes the form of community awareness, peer group support, and direct referral to specialist services. SaferSpaces records Siyakholwa's goal as reaching 30,000 GBV survivors through health, well-being, psychological, livelihood, education, and entrepreneurship support.

HIV/AIDS Education, Treatment Referral, and Support With 99% of beneficiaries HIV-positive, HIV/AIDS support is at the centre of everything Siyakholwa does — including education, information, treatment referral, nutrition support, job creation projects, and ongoing family support.

Mobile Community Advice Centre — Legal and Social Rights Siyakholwa operates a Mobile Community Advice Centre reaching rural communities, farms, and urban informal areas where people cannot access formal service providers. The centre provides legal and social advice, human rights education, and guidance on accessing government services and justice.

Disability Empowerment Siyakholwa addresses the needs of people with disabilities in its community — including economic development support, employment access, and protection from the elevated abuse and exclusion risks that people with disabilities face in informal settlement contexts.

Skills Development, Learnership Referral, and Job Creation The organisation links young people and adults to learnership programmes (via LFP Group and others), in-service training for ECD workers (in partnership with UNISA), peer and social group interventions, mentorship, and job creation initiatives.

ECD and Parenting Support ECD (Early Childhood Development) in-service training for practitioners, parenting support, and family capacity-building — recognising that strong families create safer children.

Food Security — Soup Kitchen, Food Parcels, Mobile Feeding A Saturday soup kitchen, regular food parcels, and mobile feeding programmes address the most acute food insecurity in Ronderbult and surrounding communities.

44 Satellite Offices — Nationwide Reach Beyond the Germiston base, Siyakholwa operates through 44 satellite offices and partner sites across South Africa, each managed by an implementation project manager — extending the organisation's reach into communities far beyond Ekurhuleni.

Siyakholwa Support Care Centre: 729 Banana Street, Ronderbult Ext 2, Germiston, Gauteng. Phone: 011 906 0042. Email: siyakholwatrans@gmail.com | info@siyakholwasupportcarecentre.org.za. NPO 081-367. Mon–Fri 08h00–16h00. Facebook: Siyakholwa-Support-Care-Centre.