Picture for illustration purposes.
Between April and December last year, the province of KwaZulu-Natal registered a total of 26,515 pregnancies of girls between the ages of 10 and 19.
This included 1,254 girls between the ages of 10 and 14.
Lamenting the staggering figures, MEC for Health in the province Nomagugu Simelane urged parents to be more involved in their children’s lives to reduce the predicament.
Simelane was speaking during an Operation Sukuma Sakhe outreach programme in Verdriet, near Dannahuaser in Newcastle after visiting a clinic that provided healthcare to seven school children who fell pregnant during April and May this year.
“We can talk until we are blue in the face … until blood comes out of our eyes, but if we as parents and guardians don’t take responsibility in raising our kids properly, nothing will ever change. It’s a disgrace that in this community there are children aged 13 and 14 who have fallen pregnant,” said Simelane.
“It is a disgrace that in this community, in April and May, we’ve seen more than seven children who are school-going who’ve fallen pregnant. It’s a disgrace. It is not a disgrace of Government, but a disgrace for the parents… It is a disgrace for us as the Black nation, because such things are only happening in the Black community.”
Simelane also scolded parents who condoned such behaviour patterns and called on them to adopt a strict approach.
“As a mother of a boy… seeing your son bring a girl into your house… a child that you know is school-going… what does your conscience say? What do you say as a mother? As a father, what do you say when your home gets turned into a den of inequity?”
“Government is not there when those things happen. Government will not be able to come into your house, get into a room and separate underage kids [who are having sex] when you as a parent are abdicating your responsibility,” she said.
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The MEC also said that she spoke to the local chief about having a conversation with traditional leaders pertaining to reparations.
She added that if someone has impregnated a girl, they shouldn’t only pay reparations to the girl’s family, but to the local clan as well as they will need to “cleanse” the local clan, because they’ve allowed “disgusting” acts to take place in their home.
“It is disgusting for a 13-year-old child not to come back home. It is disgusting and unacceptable for a 17- year-old boy to sleep with a 13-year-old girl. We should never allow such things to happen.”
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