Ella Monakali Mangisa is a South African women’s rights and social justice advocate and the Executive Director of Ilitha Labantu, a women-led organisation dedicated to addressing gender-based violence, advancing women’s rights, and strengthening access to justice and support services for women, children and vulnerable communities.

 

Her leadership is grounded in a commitment to ensuring that advocacy translates into meaningful institutional and community-level change. Under her leadership, Ilitha Labantu’s work encompasses survivor-centred psychosocial support, legal services and access to justice, violence prevention, community outreach, youth development, economic empowerment, food security and capacity-building of frontline service providers.

 

Ella has been instrumental in strengthening partnerships between civil society, government institutions, law enforcement agencies and communities, with a particular focus on improving institutional responses to gender-based violence. Her work includes advancing trauma-informed and survivor-centred approaches within the criminal justice system and strengthening referral pathways and coordinated responses for survivors.

 

She continues a powerful legacy of women’s activism while shaping her own leadership path, grounded in integrity, courage, accountability and service. She is particularly committed to developing the next generation of women leaders and creating spaces in which young women are supported not merely to participate, but to lead. Through her work, Ella remains committed to building a society in which women and girls can live with dignity, safety, equality and freedom from violence.