A Northern Cape teenage mother, who was raped by three men five years ago, says the incident has ruined her life.
The now 17-year-old Pampierstad teenager was raped when she was a 12-year-old and the men were never convicted. She has quit school and says the rape incident turned her into a subject of scorn and ridicule at her village.
“It was very painful especially when I had to take my daughter to the clinic. It was embarrassing for me when I met older people at the clinic, but I would console myself that it wasn’t my fault. If it wasn’t for these men, I would be far with school.”
In the past year alone, Northern Cape schools recorded at least 3 600 girls who fell pregnant.
The teenage mother’s full story in the report below:
Western Cape
The Western Cape Health Department says nearly 4 000 adolescents have fallen pregnant in the province since the beginning of this year.
The department says there has however been a decrease in the number of pregnancies recorded over the last three years.
The World Health Organisation defines adolescent mothers to be between the ages 10 to 19 years.
Western Cape Health Minister, Dr Nomafrench Mbombo, says in 2022, there were more than 10 000 thousand pregnancies and over 11 000 in 2021.
She says while in some cases it occurs due to unsafe consensual behaviour, many young girls fall pregnant because of abuse.
“We’ve got a high number of clinics accredited to offer termination of pregnancy, which is signed by the executive, which is myself. So, I want to applaud the staff who create that enabling environment for these teenagers not only to be able to access family planning, not only to provide counselling and psycho-social support, but also that we prevent the whole issue of teenage pregnancy.” -Additional reporting by Tanya Krause
Below is an infographic that illustrates the adolescent/teenage pregnancy crisis in South Africa:
