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Flags of the LGBTQI+ community.
In a first for the Western Cape, a shelter for men and LGBTQIA+ people has been opened in Cape Town. The provincial department of Social Development, in partnership with a local NGO, Philisa Abafazi Bethu, says this facility offers immediate safety and support for victims of gender-based violence (GBV).
They say a service like this is much needed and hope to expand it to other areas.
A safe space where GBV survivors can access dignified emergency support. It’s been described as a haven of first instance and a service which was sorely lacking. The shelter caters for persons who identify as cis-male and/or LGBTQIA+ between the ages of 18 and 60 years old.
Founder of Philisa Abafazi Bethu, Lucinda Evans says children up to the age of eight can also be accommodated.
“For those first four days, the first responder protection plan would be worked out. What would be your options? Do we need to look at reunifying you with your family? Do you need court support? Do we need to help you take out a protection order and have it served on your perpetrator? Do we need to have your perpetrator removed so that you can go home? We didn’t even mention men that would actually flee with their children, and yes, we will be able to accommodate men with their children or a trans woman with her child; we would be able to accommodate the child as well.”
Evans says in the last two weeks, four males and one trans woman have been assisted at the facility.
“With GBV being declared, there’s a declaration from the president; the emergency funding should be released to all of us doing this frontline work. We cannot. A pilot has a beginning and an end, and where we find ourselves, we cannot have a beginning timeline and end line for gender-based violence. I’m saying, as I have said to the MEC, the emergency funding should be released so that this is a sustainable service; it is not a pilot.”
The six-bed facility is supported by the provincial department of Social Development.
The Provincial Minister for Social Development Jaco Londt, “As the department we are incredibly proud of working with our NGO partners and providing this service. We are funding just over R1.2 million to this shelter, of which just over half a million is ring-fenced to the men’s shelter as well.”
Clients need a referral by a social worker, the courts, the National Shelter Movement, the GBV Crisis Line or the Department of Health.
The placement process also includes a drug and pregnancy test.
The initiative has been welcomed by organisations working in the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as the Department of Justice and prosecuting authority.
