Recently, at a rally in Pietermaritzburg, former president Jacob Zuma raised the issue of teenage pregnancies. Of course, this was not the first time.
A few years ago, when he was still president, he suggested that a university should be built on Robben Island and pregnant teenagers should be sent there to be educated.
At the time, we thought it was a misguided joke, only to realise he was serious. After a public outcry (and presumably on the guidance of his advisers) we, thankfully, did not hear much more of it.
Yet here we are again. Back on the campaign trail, the father of 14 labelled teenage pregnancies a disease which, if he had his way, the uMkhonto Wesizwe party would put an end to by sending the young girls to the island where political prisoners were previously incarcerated by the apartheid government.
“We are going to take the children and fly them there so that they can study until they finish and stop this thing [teenage pregnancies],” he said.
Thankfully, as long as we are a constitutional state, such barbaric steps will never be allowed. The problem is that by suggesting a punishment reminiscent of the horrific Irish Magdalene Laundries, Zuma is legitimising commonly held misogynistic views about women and especially pregnant teenagers.
We live in a society where many men believe that they have the right to abuse women’s bodies for their pleasure or as an outlet for their aggression. The sad and shocking reality is that this is also true when it comes to teenagers and young children.
A report released last week by Statistics SA, Crime Against Children, found that rape was the most prevalent crime reported for children under the age of 17, with the highest incidence in KwaZulu-Natal.
Just pause for a minute to let that sink in …
Of all the horrible crimes (housebreaking, car hijackings, etc) that affect children in our country, the one that happens to children — and girls in particular — the most, is rape. The report also found that sexual assault was nearly twice as high among children as it was in the general population.
Devastating consequences
Again, pause for a second. This means that children are targeted — presumably because they are more likely to remain quiet. So nothing happens to the paedophiles (yes, that is what they are), while the children are left with devastating long-term consequences, of which pregnancy is often one.
Statistics South Africa reported that 90,037 girls in SA aged 10 to 19 gave birth from March 2021 to April 2022. The Department of Basic Education reported that 190 learners in grades 3‚ 4 and 5 fell pregnant between 2014 and 2016. That means that these girls were between nine and 11 years of age.
Legally, the age of consent in South Africa is 16 years. Yet, we rarely see anyone prosecuted for statutory rape. In fact, like Zuma, many blame the victims for “not keeping their legs shut”, as someone wrote to me recently about social grants. It seems obvious that to point the finger at young girls who have no ownership or power over their own bodies is misdirected and cruel.
Zuma insisted that “under African law, when you are a child, you have no right to have a child”. Surely that should also mean that under African law (as in all rights-based legal systems) no man has the right to have sex with a child? Instead, the practice of adult men “blessing” young women with gifts in exchange for sex continues with impunity.
Not only do these men frequently transmit venereal diseases to these young girls, but when pregnancies inevitably happen they are nowhere to be found.
“You see children that have two, three children, but there is no baby-daddy in sight, and they are not married,” Zuma said. Yes, but why shame the girls for that? Why not insist that men take responsibility for their actions?
I agree with Zuma that teenage pregnancies are symptomatic of a disease, but like so many sexual diseases, it is transmitted by men. So, instead of shaming, blaming and wanting to banish women and girls, Zuma and other politicians should use their powerful voices to educate men to respect women and stay the hell away from young girls. DM