While every attempt has been made to ensure this transcript or summary is accurate, Special Assignment or its agents cannot be held liable for any claims arising out of inaccuracies caused by human error or electronic fault. This transcript was typed from a transcription recording unit and not from an original script, so due to the possibility of mishearing and the difficulty, in some cases, of identifying individual speakers, errors cannot be ruled out.

 

IMALI YE QOLO – RENT A WOMB

FENLEY: A student march on June 16 1976 radically changed our education system. This year Eastern Cape learners once again marched to the education department demanding condoms be available at schools.  But how many actually use condoms and why are so many school girls getting pregnant?

 

UPS: - VOICER - Children in KZN as young as six are having sex.  In Gauteng more than two thousand schoolgirls have fallen pregnant over the past two years. There’s nothing new about teenage pregnancies. What is startling is how their numbers have increased.  Now community members around the country believe they’ve found the reason for this alarming trend.

 

We have a problem. Kids are falling pregnant unthinkingly because they are rushing to get child grants.

 

In other way, we were grateful for child grants for poor families. But our kids have decided to make child grants a joke. The truth is that teenagers are falling pregnant. They do so in way that shocks us and makes us ask ourselves if child grants are behind it.

 

PRE-TITLE -Imali Ye Qolo -Rent-A-Womb

 

 UPS: - VOICER – Twenty one-year-old Sbongile Mazibuko lives in Sebokeng in the Vaal triangle. She hasn’t been to school for two weeks.  Today, this grade eleven learner is making an effort to get there although she’s already late. Her one-year-old daughter is the reason Sibongile often misses school.  Sometimes Bontle is sick or she simply does not want to let her mother go. Once a month Sbongile has to collect her child support grant.  On those days she again skips class. Her mother says she raised Sbongile with the help of a disability grant today Bontle survives on a government child-support grant.

 

 

UPS: - VOICER – A child support grant is one hundred and ninety a month. In many parts the country parents are convinced that these grants are tempting teenagers to fall pregnant.  Recently, the rural communities of Delamuzi and Matimatolo in kwaZulu-Natal held a meeting to discuss the link

 

UPS: - WOMAN -Today we are s[peaking about the money that government gives to support children. We all know about it. What is it called? Let’s talk about it.

 

UPS: - MAN - I had a big gathering with a lot of people. When we talked about condoms, the kids there weren’t interested. So we asked why. They then asked how they would get a child grant. Kids are no longer keen to use condoms because it stops them from accessing child grants.

 

UPS: - NURSE - The bad now outweighs the good. When we look at the pregnancy rate in clinics, it’s now higher than before. The use of contraceptives has decreased. Even the use of condoms has declined. It’s a problem because that’s what increases the rate of HIV-AIDS bedsides the fact that teenagers are falling pregnant.

 

UPS: - VOICER - Government set up child support grants to help unemployed parents.  But in this community they say many young people have found other uses for them. They call the grant a womb or a waist fee.

 

UPS: - NURSE – We see it n grandmothers who get old- age grants and stay with their grandchildren. They are the ones who are being harassed they must use their old age grants to support their grandchildren instead of the mothers using the child grants to look after their kids.

 

UPS: - VOICER - We visited a pay point in rural kwaZulu-Natal where child support grants were being handed out. We spoke to several young mother there.

 

UPS: - YOUNG MOTHER 1 - I can do whatever I want with the child grant because it’s mine. It is for the child so I’ll do with it what I want. The father doesn’t know I’ve registered. That’s why I collect it in town. It’s meant for the child, so I don’t see a problem using it. As long as I feed the child, it’s fine.

 

UPS: - YOUNG MOTHER 2 - The law says I can get a child grant. I use fifty rand for the child and the rest is mine.

 

UPS: - VOICER - Not only women and teenagers know about the womb fee, ubaba Ngubane, a respected elder, has heard of it.

 

UPS: - SIMON NGUBANE - In Zulu culture a girl is not allowed to have a child at an early age. They say they are “sleeping with their waist” that’s why they fell pregnant. Hence they call the grant the “waist fee” because they’ve been sleeping with their waist.

 

UPS: - VOICER - UBaba Ngubane believes that in principle child support grants are a good idea.

 

UPS: - SIMON NGUBANE – a child support is good if it is used to maintain the child. It is not good when children’s mother use it to do their hair, buy cell phones and fashionable clothes. That makes it difficult to see how the money helps. That is why I say the money mustn’t be stopped but we must find a way to make sure it goes straight to the child or the caregiver in a way that we can check the person did with the money, what she bought and how the money was spent.

 

AD BREAK 1

 

UPS: - VOICER – In South Africa, more than seventeen thousand babies since 1994 were born to mothers who are sixteen or younger.  Research shows that teenagers from disadvantaged communities are the most affected. It’s eight o’ clock at Beverly Hills High School in  Sebokeng.  All learners should be in assembly by now. But not all have arrived. While some learners are late, chances are, others will not come at all. It’s a daunting task for educators not knowing who will be in class on any given day. “Absent” is a familiar word in a school ranked second in Gauteng not for its good matric results but for its high number of teenage parents. In this class alone two new mothers are on shall we call it maternity leave? Despite these absent learners, teachers must get on with the job. Teachers here are guided by detailed policy on learner-parents which puts the rights of learners first.

 

UPS: PANYAZA LESUFI; GAUTENG DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - the basic o four policy therefore is to ensure that we vigorously defend the right of children to get access to education

 

UPS: - VOICER - Absenteeism is a problem. Taking care of babies can be exhausting and then there are child support grants to collect. 

 

UPS: PANYAZA LESUFI; GAUTENG DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION - Well the issue of absenteeism is related to many other things. And you can’t therefore say because there is high level of absenteeism therefore learners must not be given the necessary support that we need to provide so the policy of absenteeism is that  when a learner is not at school at a certain or number of days that need to be at school and that learner is not at school we’ve got mechanism that we need to deal with.

 

UPS: - VOICER - For a change, Sbongile Mazibuko has made it to school just after first break.  Today, Sbongile and her best friend also a teenage mother will do a biology exercise as their classmates do regularly. Sbongile is semi-blind. As a young mother she has limited time to study and is often absent so school-work is difficult. In a school of just over a thousand learners, over fifty girls are mothers. Instead of the usual extra-mural activities, they have established a Teenage Mother’s Forum to give one another support

 

 

UPS: - LEARNER 1 - There are mote than fifty of us. But many do not want to come here. They are ashamed they’ve got children.

 

UPS: - GLEARNER 2 - My mother told me about contraceptives, injections. I said to her I do not sleep wit boys.

 

UPS: - LEARNER 3 - Our parents did not talk to us. They just said do not sleep with boys, do not have a boyfriend.  They did not say if you have unprotected sex with a boy you will have a child. That is why we’ve ended up like this.

 

UPS: - LEARNER 4 - I was naughty my parents told me to go for and injection. I said the injection would damage my body. I told myself my body would be flabby if I use an injection.

 

UPS: - LEARNER 5 - You become fat. You become flabby. Boys run away from you.

 

UPS: - LEARNER 2- They say the blood does not come out. It stays inside your body. You are dirty.

 

UPS: - LEARNER 6 – On the issue of tablets I tried but my mother said they would stop me from having kids when I am older and want to have babies.

 

UPS: - LEARNER 7 - We are ignorant. We didn’t take note until it happened to us. Many here at school are still ignorant because they do not have babies. That is why we set up this forum to educate them.

 

UPS: - VOICER - With the demands of school when do they find time to meet their boyfriends?

 

UPS:  - SIBONGILE MAZIBUKO – School comes out at two o’clock; you quickly got to your boyfriends’ place. When you are done he walks you home and that’s that.

 

UPS: - LEARNER 8 – When your boyfriend calls you ‘baby’, it makes you happy. In fact we prefer being called ‘chocolate’. He tells you that he will fetch you at lunch time, so wait at the gate. And you tell him that you won’t stand at the gate because the principal does not open gate at lunch time. “Wait at the hole, I’ll come out there.” When you hear his whistle, you take your books and tell your friend to throw them over the wall. At your boyfriend’s home there will be no one. Parents are at work, it is only the two of you. You lock the house and have fun and then the baby comes.

 

UPS: - VOICER - Condoms are not popular with some of these girls reliable information on condom-use is clearly not getting through.

 

UPS:  - LEARNER 8 – A lot of kids say you cannot eat a sweet inside a paper. You listen to what your friend told you, it is like this or like that. Then you go and you tell another one until it is all over.

 

UPS: - LEARNER 9 - It is this thing of believing that is you have sex with a condom it is not as nice as when you are having skin on skin.

 

UPS:  - LEARNER 8 – Kids today do not want to use condoms because there were once a rumour that if you put a condom in hot water, worms come out. Who wants a worm inside them? That is the reason.

 

UPS: - VOICER - These girls spoke openly about how they spend their child support grants.

 

UPS: - LEARNER 1 – A child grant is not much but it is meant for the child, not me. My child’s grant helps with her clothes and food. When it is payday, my child must get nice things.

 

UPS: - LEARNER 10 - This thing started as something for adults. Adults were the ones having babies, the ones getting grants. Now it is teenagers who are having babies, more so than adults. It is mostly people like us who have babies. Adults go to clinics for contraceptives. We are now the producers.

 

UPS:  - LEARNER 8 – When there was not grant money, your mother helped you. So you’ve got to help a little in return. If the child is born in April you do not get the money then. You’ve got to spend a bit on things like tomatoes.

 

UPS: - LEARNER 9 - It’s not that we look after the children all the time, every month.  Sometimes your mother helps buy groceries to feed the child. Sometimes you buy for the child, sometimes you buy for yourself. It is not that we do not buy for ourselves. We sometimes buy ourselves shoes or pants, but not every month.

 

UPS: - VOICER - Young mothers are mostly the ones left caring for the babies. But what of the teenage fathers?

 

UPS: FATHER/LEARNER 1 – I’m Kamogelo’s father. She’ll turn one in July.

 

UPS: FATHER/LEARNER 2 – I’m Siyabonga’s father. You sometimes meet a girl when you are walking around. You notice that she is different, she does not look like other girls. You get to know each other and then you end up making a mistake.

 

UPS: FATHER/LEARNER 1 – As guys, we fool each other. We compete. I’ve got beautiful girlfriend. I’ve got more girlfriends than you. We also make sure we have sex with them.  We are in an age of competition when it comes in girls. Your status depends on who you are, who you walk with and when and what you do with them.

 

UPS: FATHER/LEARNER 2 – You often find that there’s no condom and you are aroused and when I am aroused I cannot control myself. I don’t use a condom. When I have it on in fact I’ve never used one. I do not want a condom. I want skin on skin. “Z3” (AIDS) exists. But the girls that I go out with do not have it. If a girl has AIDS I feel it in my blood. I feel there’s something wrong with her.

 

UPS: FATHER/LEARNER 1 – if you know you have regular sex with girls then always use a condom. There are sicknesses, HIV, STDs.  I disagree there is no difference with or without a condom. The sex is the same. I think condoms are made out of soft material.

 

UPS: - VOICER - So how easy is to balance school and parenting?

 

UPS: FATHER/LARNER 1 – The week before last my child was very sick. She wasn’t eating and it stressed me out. I had exams the following day but I couldn’t study. I was running around trying to make sure my child was Ok. I asked for money so I could take her to the clinic r to the doctor. Being a parent and a learner is stressful.

 

UPS: - LEARNER 10 - In the morning, the first thing you do is bath, then bath the child. That makes morning very tense and busy. We tell ourselves that children’s fathers are very supportive. But they are no there. They are there for some of the time. As soon as they turn their back you are alone. So we end up missing school if I miss school I’ll fail. I’ll have to struggle for another year. It’s very hard.

 

UPS: - VOICER - On radio on television on billboards safe-sex messages go out. But is the right message getting through?

 

UPS: LOVELIFE AD – Unprotected sex leads to HIV and Teen pregnancy.

 

UPS: GRACE MATLHAPE; DEPUTY CEO: LOVELIFE - Young people are having sex. They are having unprotected sex they do not believe that they are at risk for contracting HIV. More and more young people are becoming pregnant at a young age.

 

UPS: LUYANDA NGONYAMA; TAC: GAUTENG – It is not helping you to look only at the consequence which is pregnancy, which is abortion. You do not want to focus only on the fact that people are getting pregnant. And to pretend as if people are not active sexually is a bit misleading because we know that is not a reality.

 

UPS: - PANYAZA LESUFI; GAUTENG DEPARTMENT O FEDUCATION – The official policy of the government especially the department of Education is that we cannot encourage the distribution of condoms within the school premises. The school premises are an institution of learning, and learning for children.

 

UPS: LUYANDA NGONYAMA; TAC: GAUTENG – I think that is very irresponsible statement from the minister looking at the level of infection to just make a blatant statement saying that you will not distribute or make condoms available in schools is actually unrealistic. Because the fact of the matter is that learners are engaged in sex.

 

AD BREAK 2

 

UPS: - VOICER – Abstain, Be Faithful. Condomise. The Department of Education supports the principles of ABC. But its emphasis is on abstinence. But the message sent out can be confusing. In some provinces NGOs like “Focus on the Family” are giving primary school kids lessons in sexuality. 

 

UPS: -  TEACHER - Condoms. We do not use them right? Why don’t we use the condoms? Who said they are small? A person can’t say he’ll protect you with a condom. Will you put you life in danger, put your life inside a condom? Yu see when you use a condom, you take your life and put it inside a condom.

 

UPS: - VOICER - Avoiding condoms is not the only lesson that these rural kids get. They are also encouraged to make life-changing decisions.

 

UPS; - TEACHER - This pledges card will help you if you wish to make a decision about your life that you won’t have sex until you   get married. It’s up to you, do you hear me?

 

UPS: - GAVIN KRUGER; FOCUS ON THE FAMILY - We teaching sexuality. We do not ever teach anything about the act of sex according to the Nelson Mandela HRC report. They mentioned that in the age group of fifteen to nineteen you actually have your higher percentage of HIV carries in South Africa so we want to reach the children and the department of education basically wants to reach the children before they get to that age period. I don’t think it is irresponsible because abstinence is not risk reduction it is risk elimination. The condom message is risk reduction. We’ve got very reliable research which indicates that the signing of the pledge delays sexual activities by at least two and half to three years which means that a child of about twelve of age even if they are tempted when they are fourteen of fifteen will be in  much better position to understand the consequences associated with such actions than when they are much younger.

 

UPS: - VOICER - The Minister of Education says NGOs working in schools are providing health education that emphasizes prevention and positive living.

 

UPS: LUYANDA NGONYAMA; TAC: GAUTENG – well what we do in schools as to educate you know learners about the importance of engaging in prevention when they have sex. Usually people would say that you cannot talk about condoms at a school but our argument and our experience as TAC is that there’s high levels of teenage pregnancy at our school

 

UPS: GRACE MATLHAPE; DEPUTY CEO: LOVELIFE - The truth is they are having sex so the value of the ABC message is limited it assumes that you only have to focus on behaviour and that the social reality takes care of itself

 

UPS: - VOICER - Conflicting messages are being sent out. So is it any wonder that girls are falling pregnant and collecting child grants?

 

UPS: - PANYAZA LESUFI; GAUTENG DEPARTMENT O FEDUCATION – The official policy is that learners must not be encouraged or find themselves receiving condoms within ht school premises but those believe that they are sexually active the school premises will provide them with information where they can get those particular condoms but we cannot distribute them within the school premises.

 

UPS: LUYANDA NGONYAMA; TAC: GAUTENG – It becomes very irresponsible the Minister to say I will not distribute condoms because we are building up the number of people who at a longer run will need ARVs and we know that the government is moving very, very slowly at the moment.

 

UPS: - VOICER - You can get accurate information on HIV-AIDS, condoms and contraception by calling one of the numbers on screen or by visiting one of these websites.

 

Condoms should be distributed in schools. SMS agree or disagree top 343 83. You can also SMS the word truth plus your comments.