24/05/2025
KZN HEALTH MEC NOMAGUGU SIMELANE CALLS FOR URGENT, SERIOUS DIALOGUE ON OLDER MEN IMPREGNATING CHILDREN AND TEENS
Durban: KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Ms Nomagugu Simelane has called for an urgent, open, and collaborative dialogue involving parents, traditional leaders, civil society, and Government stakeholders to decisively address the disturbing pattern of older men impregnating underage girls, a practice that constitutes statutory r**e under South African law.
Speaking at a meeting of the Provincial Council on Aids held in Durban recently, MEC Simelane expressed deep concern over the growing number of teenage and child pregnancies, particularly those involving adult men. The MEC emphasised that this issue is both a health crisis and a social justice emergency that requires urgent intervention.
“We are extremely worried about the high number of children who are falling pregnant,” said MEC Simelane. “What is even more concerning is that some of these young victims stop accessing healthcare and social services once they realise that we are legally required to report the perpetrators. In many cases, this is done to protect breadwinners or due to informal agreements between families. But this puts young girls at high risk, especially when they are forced to give birth in unsafe conditions.”
South African law defines statutory r**e as any sexual activity with a person under the age of 16, and makes the reporting of such cases to law enforcement mandatory.
MEC Simelane reiterated that clinics and hospitals are required by law to report all suspected cases of statutory r**e.
“I want to make a proposal... that we lead from the front in combating this crisis, that between ourselves and district mayors, amakhosi (traditional leaders), and izinduna (headmen), we need to come together and deal with this matter head on because these activities are happening right where we are, children get pregnant in our societies in our communities.
“These incidents are happening in our communities. Unless we talk about it and act decisively, we will continue to see young lives destroyed. We are raising a broken generation if we remain silent,” she said.
ENDS
Issued by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health