DRIEFONTEIN – The premier, Mr DD Mabuza lambasted Mkhondo residents for being careless when engaging in sexual activities, saying unsafe sex created more problems in society.
Mabuza was speaking during the Zazi campaign on Saturday. This ongoing initiative was part of the build-up to World Aids Day.
It is aimed at discouraging young girls from engaging in premature and unsafe sexual activities with older men.
It further seeks to empower young females to know their own worth and refuse to depend on men for money and other favours in return for sex.
Mabuza said they should not use unprotected sex as a form of leisure as it led to pregnancy and diseases such as HIV/Aids.
Gert Sibande District has a high prevalence of HIV/Aids at 46 per cent with Mkhondo Local Municipality at 56 per cent.
He urged citizens to stand up and fight this pandemic which was destroying the nation.
He said lack of family values contributed to these problems as some parents were not strict enough, allowing their kids to disobey and misbehave.
“Some parents would come home drunk and not be responsible for the well-being of their children,” said Mabuza.
While delivering his address on the stage, people shouted back and interrupted the premier, saying they had nothing else to do, as they were unemployed, but to make babies.
“As a government, we acknowledge that there are people who are unemployed but they cannot use sex as pastime because they are bored. This creates problems in our society.
“Young girls get pregnant and once they have babies, it becomes the government’s responsibility.
“Babies are not bricks used in building houses. They must be planned for properly. They just cannot be born by mistake and worse, be infected with HIV because their parents did not know their status. What kind of a nation are we that kills its own children?” asked Mabuza.
He said it was unfortunate that desperate young females became involved in intimate relationships with “infected elderly men” who used them as sex objects and who did not care about their future.
He lashed out at their fathers and mothers for not playing their parental role in instilling morals in their children, adding that babies could not be raised on government’s social grants alone.
“Why won’t an older man regard a young girl as a child who deserves to be protected? Such people are deliberately destroying our nation. What kind of men sleep with 14-year-old girls?
“We are saying no to people who destroy the future of our kids.
“I do not like those who take advantage of them. They are not real men. It is unacceptable that some of them would woo young girls.
“The number of pregnant learners at our schools is alarming. The nation is dying and we are doing nothing, but shifting the responsibility to government.
“Who will live in the RDP houses the government is building because everyone is dying? I don’t understand why children should have cellular phones when they are not working. What do they do with these phones, because they end up asking airtime from people who have ulterior motives.
“These kids then become easy targets and end up being infected with HIV,” said Mabuza.
He explained the damning statistics of the high prevalence in the Gert Sibande District mainly involved young pregnant women.
He urged traditional leaders to endorse the government’s efforts of medical male circumcision in order to contribute towards the reduction in infections.
Studies show that chances of becoming infected are reduced by 60 per cent.
The provincial government is working towards having at least 500 000 males circumcised in the current financial year whereas the National Department of Health’s target is more than four million
by 2015.
“We can talk about this until our hair turns grey. I beg you to change your behaviour. We have built three beautiful schools in your area, go and utilise the opportunity by concentrating on your studies. This country needs you,” said Mabuza.
He further urged those who were already on antiretroviral treatment, not to default. He also stressed that everyone needed to know their status in order to be treated early if there was a need.
Earlier in the day, the Zazi girls, led by Miss Mpumalanga, Ntandoyenkosi Kunene, marched and submitted a memorandum to the premier, requesting him as the provincial chairperson of the Mpumalanga Aids Council to ensure their protection from older men who used them as sex objects.
They asked him to ensure that their Zazi campaign was sustained and supported as it created a platform for young girls to openly talk about sex and learn from the discussions.
They said they were “tired” of being pregnant at a young age, not being able to enjoy their youth and that they had had enough of being misused by older men.
