KwaZulu -Natal, has recorded a total number of 26 515 adolescent pregnancies between April-December 2022 according to statistics.
KwaZulu -Natal health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane has called on parents to get more involved in their children’s lives following the discovery, adding that it was unacceptable for under-aged children to be sleeping with each other.
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the legal age of consent for sexual activity in South Africa is 16, any sexual activity below that age is considered a crime in the country.
Simelane said 1 254 of the pregnancies were girls aged 10 to 14. In February 2023, Statistics from South Africa data showed that 90 037 adolescents aged 10 to 19 had given birth from March 2021 to April 2022.
The data further revealed that of the almost 34 000 teenage pregnancies in 2020, 660 were girls under the age of 13, marking youth month, Simelane raised concerns about the startling figures of the disorder in KwaZulu -Natal
“Do not ululate or look the other way when your son brings home a girl in school uniform” she said.
Nomagugu Simelane urged parents not to abandon their responsibility, but to be more hands-on in raising their children.
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It’s 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,” Simelane said.
She admonished young people to abstain from sex and instead focus on their education, urging those who could not abstain to practice safe sex and use contraceptives.
