Saartjie Baartman Centre to Receive Women’s Month “Winter Warmth” Donation Today | Western Cape Government

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Saartjie Baartman Centre to Receive Women’s Month “Winter Warmth” Donation Today

30 August 2013

Western Cape Human Settlements Minister Bonginkosi Madikizela will today hand over clothing and food items collected for the women and children of the Saartjie Baartman Centre for Abused Women and Children in Manenberg, Cape Town.

The Saartjie Baartman Centre was selected as the beneficiary of the Winter Warmth Campaign that the Western Cape Provincial Department of Human Settlements is running for the duration of the winter season (June through to September).  Each month the Department chooses a worthy beneficiary to which the efforts of their staff and the incumbent partners are directed.  With August being Women’s Month, it was decided that the Saartjie Baartman Centre would therefore be the recipient.

Background of the Saartjie Baartman Centre

The organisation offers a multi-disciplinary service (one-stop) centre for abused women and children, as well as provides an opportunity for partners to develop an appropriate on-site multi-agency service delivery model for the effective management, treatment and prevention of violence against women and children. It also allows for a partnership approach between government departments and the non-governmental sector.

Since opening its doors in 1999, the Centre has evolved to be the prime learning site nationally for providing holistic, integrated services to survivors of violence. Some of the services provided are managed directly by the Saartjie Baartman Centre. These include a 24-hour crisis response; a residential shelter and transitional housing for abused women (approximately 100, mostly black and coloured women) and their children (up to about 150 mostly black and coloured children – of which about 100 are girls, and 50 are boys); legal assistance; and job-skills training. The other services are provided by organisations working in partnership at the Centre and include an after-hours crisis response for children (this could be anywhere up to 250 children in a given month – of which about 150 are girls, mostly black and coloured); specialised counselling services in rape/sexual assault, drug and alcohol abuse, trauma and domestic violence; job-skills training and job placement projects; HIV/AIDS programmes; community outreach; advocacy and lobbying; training; and research.

The Centre is situated in Manenberg on the Cape Flats, an area with extremely high rates of crime, gangsterism, child abuse, unemployment, substance abuse and domestic violence. There are few resources available in Manenberg and the surrounding areas and as a result the Centre provides services to a wide range of constituencies: neighbouring townships, farming communities in the Phillippi, Constantia, and Stellenbosch areas, and 'informal' settlements.

All media are invited.


Date: 30 August 2013
Venue: Saartjie Baartman Centre, Klipfontein Road (opposite the Western Cape Nurses' Training College) Manenberg

Media Enquiries: 

Bruce Oom
Spokesman for Minister Bonginkosi Madikizela
Tel: 021 483 6622
Cell: 072 465 5177
E-mail: bruce.oom@westerncape.gov.za