Lifeline Vaal Triangle

Lifeline Vaal Triangle is situated on 1 Monument St, Duncanville, Vereeniging, 1937 

To offer mental and emotional health services within the culture of Human Rights, through programmes that are preventative and responsive.

The Helpline was started by Network against Women Abuse which included LifeLine Southern Africa and it was known as Stop Women Abuse.  

At its inception it rotated among LifeLine Centres from 1993 before it permanently moved to the National Office in 2000.   

With time the Stop Women Abuse (SWA) Helpline was inspired to review its name based on the statistics which showed that almost 40% of the Line’s callers were found to be male.

The Stop Gender Violence Helpline now operates as a dual line where callers can either call or WhatsApp to have a silent conversation with the counsellors, 365 days a year and 24 hours a day. It offers its services in all 11 official languages. This is due to the counsellors who are now operating the line on both full and part time basis. The SGV Helpline is a national project.  Its beneficiaries are women (to a large extent), men, girls and boys who become witnesses, victims, survivors, and perpetrators of GBV from various communities in all 9 Provinces across South Africa. 

Other vulnerable groups that get support from the helpline are elderly disable people and the LGBTIQ+ community and women who are substance abusers as they fall under the key populations. The Helpline answered an estimated total of 329 721 calls from 2017 – 2019.

An increase on the number of calls presented is always observed during the 16 Days of Activism of No Violence against Women and Children, Youth Day, Day of the Elderly and other observed dates.