KZN DA spokesperson on social development, Mmabatho Tembe writes:
Last week’s release of a Statistics SA report which revealed that 5 500 children aged between 10 and 14 years of age gave birth in KZN during the 2019/20 financial year, is shocking to the core.
Our province also has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in South Africa and the highest number of gender-based violence incidents.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) is deeply concerned by these statistics.
Equally alarming is that the figures seem to be growing. Child and teenage pregnancies have a huge impact on the education, health and social circumstances of both teenage girls and their children.
It entrenches these young women and their children in the poverty trap from which they seldom recover.
As far back as 2014, the DA called for co-operation between KZN government departments and a hard-hitting strategy to ensure that learners and teenagers have as much choice as possible when it comes to preventing unwanted pregnancies.
Clearly, this advice has not been heeded.
We now reiterate our call for a multi-faceted, intensified approach by government.
The first thing that must be done is to acknowledge that teenage pregnancy is a societal issue and will not be addressed until such time as the root causes, which include poverty, lack of access and incorrect use of contraceptives and parental absence are dealt with.
The KZN government cannot sit idly by as yet another generation is trapped in the cycle of poverty and hopelessness due to inaction.
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