Flagstaff Community Advice Office

LED BY: Bomkazi Mhlongo

MAIN CHALLENGES FACED BY THE COMMUNITY: ukuthwala (forced marriage of young girls to older men), domestic violence, unemployment.

MAIN ACTIVITIES: Paralegal support, social injustice, labour disputes, gender equality, human rights (especially for the LGBTI community).

The Flagstaff Community Advice Centre serves both Flagstaff and villages in the broader Ingquza Hill municipality. A vibrant local development agency, the team has assisted over three thousand community members with paralegal advice. The team played a major role in creating awareness in their community around the unfair practices of ukuthwala which is when young girls (sometimes as young as 13) are forced into marriage with older men. The staff are also skilled at providing advice and assistance on the sensitive issues surrounding male circumcision and the LGBTI community.