Six-thousand girls in 24 villages in the North West province, are either pregnant or have given birth – some as young as 11 years old.
The children are mostly fathered by older men.
Setlagole village at the Ratlou Local Municipality in the province has recorded a spike in statutory rapes.
Seventeen-year-old Resego Dibetso (not her real name), is one of the many trapped in the situation. She left school in Grade 7 after she was impregnated by an older man, who has since disappeared.
“I gave birth when I was just 15 years. I have so many problems. I don’t have ID. My child has no birth certificate, and we are just living by ourselves with no parents.”
Last week, the North West Childrens’ Parliament in Mahikeng, resolved to seek the National Assembly’s urgent intervention.
Speaker of the Children’s Parliament, Onkametse Boile says, “We are complaining about making back home. We are complaining about our lives not being safe. It’s as if the government has taken account that it doesn’t happen to them and why should they care.”
