LifeLine Western Cape, which is struggling with a funding shortfall of about R1.48m after closing its 2025/26 financial year under financial pressure, said it is continuing to provide provincial counselling services from its Mowbray and Khayelitsha centres as well as remote platforms, reports IOL.
The NPO, offering telephone, WhatsApp and face-to-face counselling to people experiencing mental health crises, ended the year with a monthly deficit of roughly R123 000 and has been drawing on reserves to sustain operations, it said. Its reserves have fallen from about R3.36m in March 2025 to around R2.58m in March 2026.
The funding gap reflects rising operational costs, limited fundraising capacity and increasing demand for mental health support in communities already under socio-economic strain.
While acknowledging financial strain, the organisation said it was not facing immediate closure and was focused on maintaining services while strengthening its funding base.
Demand for services continues to grow, the NPO added: in 2025, it recorded 3 695 phone and WhatsApp counselling sessions and 1 032 face-to-face sessions across its centres.
WhatsApp has become a key access point for support, accounting for 1 459 of 1 898 remote counselling sessions in the first half of the current financial year. But face-to-face counselling remains especially important in Khayelitsha, where it has seen increasing trust and repeat engagement.
The Western Cape Department of Social Development said the situation reflects broader challenges across the non-profit sector, rather than a single organisation in crisis.
While it does not directly fund LifeLine Western Cape, the department said it supports more than 1 000 social sector NPOs through partial subsidies amounting to more than R1.19bn.
Western Cape Minister of Social Development Jaco Londt encouraged stronger partnerships with the private sector, pointing to the Cape Care Fund, developed with The Health Foundation of South Africa, as one mechanism aimed at supporting vetted organisations through additional funding channels.
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