Teenage pregnancies in South Africa: A call to address statutory rape

Experts have warned that many teenage pregnancies in South Africa are actually statutory rapes, and society needs to be vigilant and report ‘the so-called blessers’ who are destroying the lives of young girls, if the country is to win the war against the scourge.

They were reacting to the recent stats by the Department of Health that on Christmas Day alone, showing that more than 130 teenagers gave birth, compared to 90 on the same day in 2024.

Experts said that while one day’s data cannot, on its own, confirm the ‘normalisation’ of early motherhood, it does raise important psychological and social questions about how teenage pregnancy is increasingly experienced in certain communities.

Bafana Khumalo, co-executive director of NGO Sonke Gender Justice, said many of these teenage pregnancies are actually statutory rapes and encouraged communities to report intergenerational sexual engagements to the police as outlined by various laws related to children.  

“The challenge is that communities look the other way and allow perpetrators to get away with it. In some instances, it is parents who are most likely due to poverty, who are keen to look the other way because those men provide remittances to the families,” Khumalo said.

He added that some of these teenage pregnancies are among peers who are experimenting, which has prompted Sonke’s Men Care programme, which provides life skills for young men on positive parenting.

“We are experiencing tremendous success with those who go through this programme. They take care of their responsibilities and are supportive of their partners. Many enjoy the joys of being a responsible and present parent. The challenge is the lack of resources to scale up this programme to ensure greater impact,” he said.

Khumalo stated that it is unfortunate that many in society resist the effective Comprehensive Sexuality Education Programme, designed to empower young people with appropriate information to enable them to make the correct choices about sexual reproductive health and rights.

He said Sonke continues to work with Faith and Traditional leaders on these issues.

Nqobile Kweyama, an educational psychologist and lecturer at the University of Johannesburg, said the increase in teenage births from 90 in 2024 to over 130 in 2025 on Christmas Day alone is deeply concerning and warrants more than surface-level explanations.

She said that when adolescents regularly see peers becoming mothers, often without immediate or visible consequences, early motherhood may begin to feel expected or inevitable. 

“Teenagers assess risk not through statistics, but through peer behaviour. If pregnancy appears socially accepted or even affirming, the perceived risk diminishes, regardless of factual knowledge,” Kweyama said.

She stated that adolescence is a critical developmental stage for identity formation, meant to be a time of exploration of values, goals, relationships, and future possibilities. 

“When a girl becomes a mother at 14 or 15, this process is abruptly interrupted. She is required to take on a permanent adult role before she has had the opportunity to explore who she is beyond survival and caregiving. This places her at risk of what psychologists call identity foreclosure, where motherhood becomes her only identity, limiting emotional growth, educational persistence, and long-term well-being,” she said.

Kweyama added that there is a psychological trauma inherent in a situation where a child is raising a child. 

“Teenage mothers are often navigating fear, shame, loss of childhood, and overwhelming responsibility, all while their own emotional regulation skills are still developing. Without trauma-informed support, these young mothers are at heightened risk for depression, anxiety, school disengagement, and long-term marginalisation,” she stated.

Kweyama highlighted that sex education is not failing because teenagers lack information, but the failure lies in the gap between knowledge and behaviour.

“Behavioural psychology shows that decision-making in adolescence is driven more by emotion, peer pressure, power dynamics, and self-esteem than by logic. For many girls, especially those in unequal or coercive relationships, the issue is not ignorance but lack of agency, negotiation skills, and the belief that they are not allowed to say no,” Kweyama said.

gcwalisile.khanyile@inl.co.za