Dumsani Malamule, the spokesperson for the department, said there were 14 421 teenage girls aged between 15 and 19 who gave birth to babies between April 2020 and May 2021.

A further 1 179 were delivered in April, 1 319 in May, 1 261 in June, 1 194 in July and 883 in August. The province also recorded a total of 687 girls between 10 and 14 who had given birth between April 2020 and August 2021.

A total of 472 of them delivered during the country’s lockdown period between April 2020 and May 2021.

READ: High teen pregnancy numbers are a worrying phenomenon

“In April we recorded 39 girls, then 71 in May, 38 in June, 41 in July and 26 in August,” he said. According to the CEO of Themba Hospital, Dr Thembi Matsinhe, the Nsikazi region had recorded 64 teen pregnancies in a space of nine months. She said some of the pregnancies had come from 1 080 cases of gender-based violence reported to the hospital from various parts of the region. In recent weeks, the hospital delivered three babies of three 13-year-old mothers. Matsinhe said some had sustained injuries while giving birth. She added that cases had been opened with the police and some of the minors became property of the state.

She called on political and local leaders to play their part in positioning themselves to fight against gender-based violence in communities.