Spokesperson for the Department of Basic Education, Elijah Mhlanga, says that unplanned teenage pregnancies have become almost "normalized", due to the fact that guardians, family members and neighbours in communities do not report potential cases of statutory rape to the authorities.
"What's happening to our children, it's like we're allowing it, and the perpetrators are literally getting away with it," said Mhlanga.
In his YouTube segment, titled Elijah Unpacks, Mhlanga discussed the widely debated and controversial topic of teenage pregnancies in South Africa, citing shocking statistics.
According to Mhlanga, between January and March of this year, 17 855 babies were delivered in the country. From April to June 2022, the Department of Health recorded 22 000 deliveries, therefore in total, 38 863 babies were born between January and June of this year.
Calling it "a shocking statistic to read," Mhlanga says what is particularly concerning is the fact that within the period of January to March, 560 of those deliveries were from girls aged 10 to 14 years old. Between April and July, 737 10 to 14 year old girls gave birth.
"Imagine a 10 year old giving birth to a baby," says Mhlanga, "This is a baby giving birth to another baby. It doesn't get worse than that."
But, the bigger problem, Mhlanga says is that now we have 1297 potential cases of statutory rape, which go unreported by parents, guardians or neighbours on behalf of the vulnerable girls impregnated.
In South Africa, anyone under the age of eighteen is considered a child, but the Sexual Offences Act lists the age of consent as sixteen and older for all genders and sexual orientations. Laws dictating the ages of consent mainly exist to protect children from sexual predation and exploitation.
The law further states that no child under the age of 12 can consent to sex. Any sexual act with a child under the age of 12 years old is considered statutory rape or sexual assault.
Mhlanga has urged community members to report these cases of pregnancies in underage girls to the police so that perpetrators can be dealt with.
In the context of the above-mentioned statistics, a handful of those young girls who have given birth could not legally give consent.
Pressure and manipulation from perpetrators are tactics used to coerce these girls into situations they are not mature enough to fully comprehend or consent to.
Often, the discussion of teen pregnancies places majority of the blame on the girls who are now carrying a child, ignoring the immorality of older men in positions of power who actively chose to pursue and groom these young girls, and who played a role in getting the situation to where it is now.
Women and girls in South Africa face discrimination based on their gender, are regularly viewed through the lens of sexual objectification and are often considered to be "less" than their male counterparts.
Mhlanga says there is not enough outrage when it comes to learning of pregnant minors.
"There's no demonstration, no outrage; if [there is], it's just shock here and there and after three days, it's gone, we just carry on. And the Department of Health just keeps registering these births that are early, unwanted and terribly dangerous, because here you've got bodies that are fragile, that are not ready to carry another human being for nine months."
The DBE has tried to combat the skyrocketing numbers of unplanned pregnancies of children in schools by coming up with Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) to help learners recognize the dangerous behaviours of potential predators, as well as introducing the Basic Education Pregnancy Policy in December of 2021.
The Policy requires schools to report girls to the police if they are under the age of 16 and pregnant, and if the father of the baby is older than sixteen.
Although schools do discuss and teach about sex to learners, Mhlanga says the conversation should start at home.
The "taboo" nature of conversations surrounding sex can be uncomfortable for parents, but research shows that adolescents who have talked to their parents about sex are more likely to use condoms and birth control because they have all the necessary information to practice safe sex.
