By Everson Luhanga
- More than 23,600 teenage pregnancies were recorded in Gauteng in 2024, including over 500 girls aged between 10 and 14 years.
- Police reported just 242 cases of child rape in 2024, showing most perpetrators escape justice while young victims face lifelong trauma.
Teenage pregnancy in Gauteng has reached shocking levels, with thousands of children forced into motherhood while their abusers remain free.
Health MEC Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko revealed in the legislature that from January to December 2024, 23,691 teenage pregnancies were recorded in public health facilities. Among them, 521 babies were born to girls aged just 10 to 14. A further 23,170 were born to girls aged 15 to 19, while nearly 5,000 girls in the same age group underwent terminations of pregnancy.
Yet despite these numbers, reports of statutory rape to the South African Police Service are falling. Police recorded 474 cases in the 2022/23 financial year, dropping to 257 in 2023/24, and just 242 between April and December 2024.
The Democratic Alliance says this failure to report and investigate child rape is allowing perpetrators to get away with their crimes. Some families are said to be bribed into silence, while DNA backlogs continue to delay justice.
Opposition leader Solly Msimanga is demanding urgent action. He wants the education, health, social development and community safety departments to train health workers and social workers to report statutory rape directly to police, as required by law.
He says teenage girls must also be taught that nobody – whether a teacher, parent or stranger – has the right to force themselves on them.
The crisis was highlighted by a recent case at Khomani Primary School in Diepkloof, where learners were allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted off school grounds.
Msimanga insists only firm action, proper reporting and community involvement can protect children and stop the cycle of abuse.
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