Mabuza slams ‘barbaric’ rising teenage pregnancy cases

This month’s report from Statistics South Africa shows that there were 34 000 cases of teenage pregnancy in 2020. 668 of those girls were younger than 10-years-old. Those numbers are so bad then even our Deputy President is now reacting to them. And David Mabuza is not exactly known for all the sterling work he does on a day to day basis.

Does South Africa have a teenage pregnancy problem?

While speaking at the South African National Aids council meeting in KZN on Saturday, Mabuza described teenage pregnancy as a “blight on the moral standing of our society.”

“It is barbaric and condemns the lives of our children to lifelong scars and trauma. It stunts their development and ruins their future. The long-term economic, social, psychological and legal effects of these statistics are disturbing. We must act now.”

And those are just 2020’s stats. New figures from the Gauteng Department of Health show that over 23 000 girls under the age of 18, gave birth between April 2020 and March 2021. That is an increase of 60% from the previous year. Yes, we clearly do have a teenage pregnancy problem.

Mabuza has his say on the Omicron variant

During his address, Mabuza also insisted that the country has made significant progress in containing the spread of COVID-19.

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Noting the red listing of South Africa following our scientists’ discovery of the new Omicron variant, Mabuza urged South Africans not to become complacent.

But with over 16 million vaccines waiting to be used, and the 4th wave with a new variant starting, what about vaccine hesitancy?

Under 35% of South African adults are fully vaccinated. The Department of Health is set to start making additional vaccine jabs available to fully vaccinated adults who are immunocompromised.