Cape Town – KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane has expressed concern over the high number of adolescent pregnancies in the province.
Between April and December of last year, there were 26 515 pregnancies among girls aged 10 to 19, with 1 254 of them being girls aged 10 to 14, the MEC said, according to reports.
Simelane did not provide information about the ages of the individuals responsible for the pregnancies.
These numbers have raised alarm as the legal age of consent for sexual activity in South Africa is 16, and having sex with someone under 16 is a crime.
Simelane urged parents to become more involved in their children’s lives and not turn a blind eye to relationships involving their underage children. News24 reported.
#CABINETOSSAMAJUBA KZN Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane speaks to the Phathakahle High in Ward 3 of Dannhauser Local Municipality, a community with high prevalence of teenage pregnancy. pic.twitter.com/59SXyc57vZ
— KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health (@kznhealth) June 15, 2023
“We can talk until blood comes out of our eyes, but if we, as parents and guardians, don’t take responsibility for raising our kids properly, nothing will ever change,” she said.
“It is a disgrace that, in this community [Amajuba], we have seen more than seven school-going children falling pregnant in April and May. This is not [only] a government disgrace, but a disgrace, parents, for us, as the black nation, because such things are only happening in the black community,”the report quoted the MEc as saying.
She criticised parents for allowing inappropriate behaviour by their underage children and called for stricter parenting, IOL reported.
“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 argued.
“If you ululate when your underage son brings a girl into the house and say, ‘My son is a Casanova …’ How do you even do that?”
“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.”
Simelane advised the young people to abstain from sex and focus on their education instead.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
