At 10 years old, she’s a child. She shouldn’t be a mother. And she’s not the only one.

The number of young girls between the ages of 10 and 14 giving birth at public health facilities in South Africa has risen by almost 50% over the past four years.

These statistics are disguised as teenage pregnancies, but are likely statutory rape.

Does calling it rape make you feel uncomfortable? It should make you outraged instead!

This is a complicated problem that is far bigger than we realise.

According to Statistics South Africa, 90 037 girls between the ages of 10 and 19 – across all provinces – gave birth from March 2021 to April 2022.

To put this number in context, Soccer City – South Africa’s largest stadium – has a capacity of 94 736.

It’s time to act

If we wait one more year before we act, Soccer City could be filled with girls too young to be moms.

These young women are not merely statistics. They are among the most vulnerable members of our society. Lives that have, sometimes violently, been irrevocably changed. This is a heavy burden for such young shoulders to bear.

What are parents, other adults, society and government doing to protect them? How are we collectively shocked yet impotent when it comes to protecting them?

It’s a savage indictment of our society that this is allowed to happen without an outcry and consequences for the perpetrators, while girls’ lives are irrevocably changed.

Complications, the leading cause of death

Maternal complications from pregnancy and childbirth are the leading cause of death and disability in girls aged 15 to 19 globally. And, the younger the girl, the greater the risk.

In many cases, teenage pregnancy is the result of forced and unprotected sex. This also increases the risk that the girl will contract HIV.

Faced with shame and stigmatisation at home and in their communities, young mothers must cope with mental health difficulties and weighty disappointment from families, while also being forced to accept an adult role that they are not emotionally or physically equipped to deal with.

Many of these girls also drop out of school, foregoing the opportunity for education and employment, which perpetuates the vicious cycle of poverty.

Life for these young girls is in its infancy, but there’s very little they can do to empower themselves. The ripple effects are devastating, far reaching and long term – for them, their families, communities and the country. This isn’t a ‘them’ problem, it’s everyone’s problem.

The health and well-being of a country’s adolescents are crucial as they represent the future workforce and potential contributors to economic productivity.

In South Africa, 50% of our population is aged between 15 and 34. We also face a soaring youth unemployment rate of 46%. If we’re faced with such an immense teenage pregnancy rate, and pregnancy drives further poverty, what will the country’s outlook be in five years?

Poverty or pregnancy?

Teenage pregnancy isn’t new, and it isn’t unique to South Africa. While not all of these pregnancies are unplanned, or the result of sexual violence, many are due to transactional economic necessity, coercion and societal pressure to be accepted.

South Africa’s ‘blesser’ and ‘blessee’ phenomenon – where there’s a reward system between a young girl and her often significantly older partner – also plays a major role. How do we begin to fix this when young people don’t consider this rape, but an exchange? In these transactional relationships, the girls, and often their families, are supported financially.

The uncomfortable truth about teenage pregnancy is that parents – not the young girl – are left to choose between poverty and pregnancy. Morality doesn’t feature in the equation, and the majority of these cases are never reported as rape.

When girls as young as 10 fall pregnant, it’s time to admit that society is failing them. When the burden of prevention and staying safe is on the girl child, it’s time to admit that the system is failing them. And, when we teach girls not to get raped, rather than teaching boys and men not to rape, the time for speaking politely is over.

Our children are having children

The age of consent in South Africa is 16. Contraception is legally available at age 12 (although not without judgement), and only at age 15 is pre-exposure prophylaxis – a medication which helps prevent HIV – available.

In 2020, more than 4 000 young girls – aged 10 to 14 – gave birth. This raises the uncomfortable truth that 11 year olds are having sex, and our children are having children because contraception is not available to them.

This is an opinion piece, written by Paul Potsane, Shout-It-Now head of programmes.