90K Schoolgirls Have Given Birth Since Last Year, Says Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga

• Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said 90 000 schoolgirls aged between 10 and 19 have given birth since last March
• Motshekga was responding to a written inquiry from the Democratic Alliance’s Desiree van der Walt
• She said schools are required to report pregnancies of girls between the ages of 12 and 16 to the department

CAPE TOWN - Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga left South Africans startled when she disclosed the high number of children who gave birth in the country.

She revealed that over 90 000 schoolgirls aged between 10 to 19 years gave birth from March 2021 to April 2022 when responding to a written inquiry from the Democratic Alliance’s Desiree van der Walt.

Motshekga was also questioned about the type of support that the girls were given. The South African reported that girls under 16 cannot give consent to sex, so it is considered statutory rape. She said that there are concerns about the huge gap between teenage pregnancies and reported sexual offences.

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Motshekga said schools are required to report pregnancies of girls between the ages of 12 and 16 to the department. If the father is older than 16, then the police must be notified. The director of children’s rights organisation Molo Songololo, Patric Solomons, told IOL that the figures are extremely concerning and that girls who fall pregnant are often stigmatised.

He said there is no focus on the man and often girls fall pregnant through criminal acts. Songololo added that the behaviour and conduct of men and how families and society keep silent about their behaviour must be investigated.

South Africans weighed in on the high number of underage pregnancies in the country:

Lilac Coombs said:

“Schools need to offer birth control on the school premises and sex education classes regularly. This crisis is only going to get worse.”

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Vicki Badenhorst posted:

“Underage is rape. Perpetrators need to be arrested and charged.”

Eugene H.D. Van Dyk commented:

“And still no convictions for statutory rape.”

Jack Prentice added:

“There is no quick, simple solution, teenage pregnancy on this scale exposes many complex societal problems and deficiencies.”

KZN Health MEC criticises high number of young mothers, over 18k babies born between 2019 & 2020

In a related matter, Briefly News also reported the Health MEC for KwaZulu-Natal Nomagugu Simelane disclosed the startlingly high number of girls affected by HIV, teenage pregnancy, and sexually transmitted diseases. She was speaking at a three-day youth conference at Impaphala in Nkandla on Saturday 18 June and called for serious intervention.

The MEC said girls in the province aged between 10 to 17 had given birth to 18 550 babies during 2019 to 2020 financial year. She also said statistics show that at least 1 000 girls in the country are infected with HIV weekly, according to TimesLIVE.

Source: Briefly News