The fight against gender-based violence in Buffalo City has suffered a huge setback as a leading anti-GBV organisation prepares to pull out of the metro’s two Thuthuzela Care Centres by the end of November.
Masimanyane Women’s Rights International has 13 first responders and linkage officers working at both the Cecilia Makiwane and Qonce’s Grey Hospital TCCs, and for the past 12 years has been at the forefront of assisting survivors of GBV.
But since US President Donald Trump pulled USAID funding at the beginning of 2025, the nonprofit organisation has struggled to provide the crucial services.
The workers at the centres ensure survivors are debriefed and provided with trauma containment and psychosocial support services.
They also ensure survivors are effectively connected to long-term services, follow-up care and support programmes.
NPA spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said the loss of funding for NGOs had a “negative impact on service delivery to victims of gender-based violence”.
“This is a nationwide concern.
“These NGOs offer support to survivors by ensuring there are first responders at the initial stages of the case and linkage officers who ensure survivors receive psychosocial support.
“They help in ensuring the TCCs render a 24-hour service.
“With 16 days of activism and the festive season approaching, missing the services of these NGOs will be adversely felt as there is usually an influx of GBV cases,” Tyali said.
Now with the blockage of aid, Masimanyane and other NGOs can no longer afford to provide meaningful employment and training to lay counsellors on how they have to work when they are at Thuthuzelas.
— Retired doctor Amitabh Mitra
He said having no first responders and linkage officers at the care centres would affect waiting periods before survivors were assisted.
“Delays and long waiting periods defeat the objective of the TCCs in reducing secondary victimisation.
“It would be appreciated if the government would allocate counsellors from the health department to assist to mitigate the delays,” he said.
Masimanyane founder Dr Lesley Ann Foster confirmed that its funding would run out at the end of the month.
In August, it was reported that GBV services in the Eastern Cape were being scaled back or shut down as nonprofit and non-government organisations lost US funding, leaving vulnerable communities without support.
Masimanyane lost about R9m in funding, about a third of its annual budget.
Foster said since the funding was cut, it had sourced independent funding, but that too had been depleted.
“The service we have been running for 12 years comes to an end at the end of November.
“Us moving out of the centres where we provide these crucial services is a big problem,” Foster said.
She said the impact would be devastating.
“It’s going to delay the medical forensic examinations and support that the survivors could get and that is very debilitating and frustrating for a survivor waiting for a doctor to see them.
“We provide the first responder services. When the survivor comes in, we are there from that moment and do all the trauma containment services, support and help and give them comfort packs and see to them holistically.
“The service we offer is survivor-centred. We also do follow-ups after they have had forensic examinations.
“The linkage officers phone them and see that they are taking medication they need to prevent pregnancies and HIV infection.
“All of that is going to fall away. It’s a very tricky situation. The impact is going to be massive.
“Trump took our funding. We got emergency funding for another six months which finishes at the end of November.
“We have to shrink our organisation because we cannot afford to keep all the programmes running.”
The halting of Masimanyane’s services at the TCCs comes at a crucial time of the year.
In January, harrowing statistics showed that, in December 2024, more than 150 people in BCM, some as young as two, were sexually violated, according to a list of survivors who visited the two centres that month.
Of 157 survivors, 45 were violated by unknown perpetrators while 74 were children aged between two and 18. Fifteen of the survivors were males.
The Cecilia Makiwane TCC helped 131 survivors in December 2023.
Between April and June last year, the centre assisted 231 survivors of sexual violence while the Grey centre helped 81 survivors.
Children’s rights activist Petros Majola said the survivors needed the NGO’s services.
“I wish that a donor or government could realise how important the services are and what it means to victims of GBV.
“They [Masimanyane] travel the journey with the victim until justice is served. If they pull out, the victims are left alone and there’s no-one to support them,” Majola said.
Reverend Xolamzi Sam of the Eastern Cape Men’s Movement said: “This is a huge setback, not only to Masimanyane, but to all other organisations in the GBV field and the community, including victims.
“This is a needed service. I hope other funders and government will come on board and assist Masimanyane. I wish their service could be expanded to other regions.
“I urge the business community to come on board to assist the victims.”
Former head of emergency medicine and clinical manager at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, Amitabh Mitra, who worked at the hospital for more than 30 years, treating sexual violence and trauma victims, including at the TCC, said the number of patients visiting the centre had increased over the years.
“Now with the blockage of aid, Masimanyane and other NGOs can no longer afford to provide meaningful employment and training to lay counsellors on how they have to work when they are at Thuthuzelas.
“I believe that is an assault on the human rights of all South African people fighting against GBV and sexual assaults. Masimanyane is doing its best.”
Anti-GBV activist and chaplain Pam Daweti said she was devastated by the news.
“These services are crucial for survivors of sexual violence. Without them, many may not receive the help they urgently need, exacerbating their trauma.
“The impact will be severe, leaving survivors vulnerable and potentially deterring others from reporting incidents.
“It’s critical that alternative arrangements are made and funding secured to prevent a gap in these essential services, she said.
Eastern Cape social development MEC Bukiwe Fanta’s spokesperson, Mpumzi Zuzile, said the department’s services to the centres would continue.
“Eastern Cape social development supports all Thuthuzela centres in the province.
“At CMH and Grey, we have one full time social worker stationed at each facility.
“We currently fund 1,316 NPOs at an amount of R407m this year.”
Health spokesperson Siyanda Manana had not responded to requests for comment by the time of publication, but it is understood that the Cecilia Makiwane Thuthuzela Care Centre has five general nurses while the Grey TCC has two.
Both centres depend on casualty doctors for forensic examinations.
Daily Dispatch
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