For immediate release

12 January 2020

MOSAIC expands Access to Justice services to Domestic Violence survivors

Cape Town, 12 January 2021 — MOSAIC Training, Service & Healing Centre is expanding its Access to Justice services to domestic violence survivors by extending its operating days from three days a week to five days a week in five courts in the Western Cape.

The community-based, non-profit organisation works to prevent, reduce and respond to abuse and domestic violence by providing holistic, integrated services to heal and empower women through support services, access to justice and skills training.

MOSAIC offers courts support services to survivors of domestic violence in the City of Cape Town, Cape Winelands, Pretoria and Durban. More than 12 000 survivors of domestic violence benefit from the service each year.

“We acknowledge the challenges that exist in survivors of domestic violence accessing justice, in response, our court support services, which fall under the Access to Justice pillar of MOSAIC’s service model, provide survivors with crisis counselling, safety planning, referral to services in addition to assisting with the completion of protection order application forms, and the provision of court information,” says Nandipha Ganya, Programmes Manager of MOSAIC.

In recent years, due to a lack of funding support for this service, MOSAIC was forced to reduce the number of days these services could be offered to survivors to only three days a week. But now, in partnership with Western Cape Provincial Department of Social Development, six courts have MOSAIC court support social auxiliary workers on site five days a week.

“We are excited to be extending our operating days from three days a week to five days a week in six courts in the Western Cape. We hope to achieve this in all of the courts served in 2021,” says Ganya.

The court support programme forms part of the MOSAIC Safe Model, a community response and prevention model. The Safe Model sees a multi-sectoral local community-based co-created response to domestic violence prevention and response.

Ganya adds, “Domestic violence happens in homes and in communities. Our 27 years of offering support to survivors of domestic violence has shown that a local, co-created and community-owned response is what is needed to ensure that protection orders protect!”

MOSAIC court support services are offered in the following Western Cape Magistrates Courts:

• 5 days a week: Bellville, Blue Downs, Cape Town, Mitchells Plain, Khayelitsha and Wynberg
• 3 days a week: Bishop Lavis, Philippi, Paarl and Wellington.

If you, or someone you know, is a victim of domestic violence or gender-based violence, please contact MOSAIC on 021 761 7585, send us a message on Facebook (@MosaicNGO) or DM us on Instagram (@MosaicRSA) for assistance. If you need more information on our services, please visit our website - www.mosaic.org.za.

ENDS

For more information, inquiries or requests for interviews, please contact:

Neo Khumalo

Communications consultant

E: communications@mosaic.org.za

T: +27 067 640 6032 (WhatsApp Calls and messaging)

About MOSAIC

MOSAIC is a community-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) that works to prevent and reduce abuse and domestic violence. This is achieved by providing holistic, integrated services when incidences occur, and supporting clients through the process of healing and rebuilding their lives after a traumatic event.

MOSAIC creates an enabling environment through our holistic and integrated five-pillar service model

• Access to Justice – psychosocial and legal support provided by court support workers, and psychosocial support from MOSAIC’s Sexual Violence Counsellors at Thuthuzela Care Centres
• Support and Healing – Counselling Services, Support Groups and Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights;
• Engaging Men and Boys- Training and Workshops, Support Groups and Counselling for Men
• Empower- Education and Skills Training, Rights Training, Youth GBV Life Skills and Community Dialogues
• Advocacy and Policy- Advancing rights of women and girls by providing evidence from our services to change the system.

The organisation was established in 1993 in response to high levels of violence against women in South Africa, particularly in the form of domestic violence, and in recognition of the silence that many women suffer in unnecessarily, due to either a lack of knowledge of their rights, a lack of confidence to access justice for themselves, or both. MOSAIC’s registered head office is in Cape Town, South Africa.

For further information about MOSAIC, please visit www.mosaic.org.za