Bongani Bingwa speaks to Luke Lamprecht, Child Protection and Development Specialist, about the heartbreaking rise in child pregnancies , a silent emergency threatening South Africa’s youngest girls. Between January 2024 and February 2025, Statistics South Africa recorded nearly 124,000 births to mothers aged 19 and under, including more than 2,100 girls between 10 and 14. Thousands more pregnancies ended in termination, with the Department of Basic Education reporting about 730 cases in that same age group last year. Legally, any pregnancy involving a girl under 16 is automatically a case of statutory rape, requiring schools to report it. Yet data remains incomplete, and accountability is scarce — we still don’t know how many perpetrators are charged or how many survivors receive justice or care. Lamprecht warns that the numbers reflect a deeper crisis of poverty, exploitation, and systemic failure, calling for stronger protection, education, and enforcement to safeguard children whose childhoods are being stolen before they even begin.

 

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