AMID celebrations of welcoming the 2019 Christmas babies into the world, KZN Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu has issued a stern warning against men who impregnate girls under the age of 16.

This after one of the Christmas Day mothers, who gave birth to a baby girl in Vryheid, is just 14 years old.

As at 3pm, KZN’s Christmas Day babies totalled 81 – 38 boys and 43 girls.

One of the first two Christmas Day babies born in KZN, was born at Empangeni’s Queen Nandi Memorial Hospital at the stroke of midnight, while the other was born at Mahatma Ghandi Memorial Hospital.

While congratulating the mothers, Simelane-Zulu admitted concerns.

‘We must indicate that we are worried about the ages of some of the mothers,’ said Simelane-Zulu.

‘The likelihood is that the 14-year-old mother could have been impregnated at the age of 13.

‘That is statutory rape.’

She said the KZN government has taken a stand against gender-based violence.

‘We believe pregnancies such as these are a form of gender-based violence.

‘We are going to start implementing the law.

‘The Department of Health, along with our counterparts at Social Development and SAPS, will have to come in and ensure that the perpetrators are apprehended.

‘There’s just no way a 14-year-old could have consented to sex, regardless of what is being said.’

Simelane-Zulu further called on communities to stop accepting ‘damages’, which is when reparations are paid to the family of a victim of rape who becomes pregnant.

‘That is against the law. Whether you’ve paid damages or not, it is against the law.’

She said that even though the father of the baby in the Vryheid case is just 18 years old himself, men must understand that whether or not the girl agreed, at her age, it is still rape.