Thousands of S. African underage girls forced into motherhood

Thousands of underage girls in South Africa have been forced into motherhood, it was revealed on Wednesday.

South Africans must rise to protect its future and that of its children, the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) said in response to the revelation by the Ministry of Social Development.

"The ANCYL is saddened and shocked at the discovery of 3,000 underage girls who were impregnated and now have children", ANCYL national spokesperson Mlondi Mkhize said in a statement.

Some of the girls have had to drop out of school, he said.

Even more shocking is that among these young girls, there is a 12-year-old who gave birth to a baby boy 6 months ago, according to Mkhize.

This is more disgusting because the assessment by the Ministry of Social Development indicates that the culprits are older men that exploit the innocence of these young girls, having unprotected sex with them and some going to the extent of being raped, Mkhize said.

"It is only a sick society that harbors such acts of exploiting innocent young girls into having unprotected sex with them because the young girls fear for their well-being if they refuse," he said.

"No young girl asks to be sexually abused. We must be the first line of defense in protecting young girls because of their economic vulnerability and social exclusion," said Mkhize.

The ANCYL will have a meeting with the Minister of Police Nkosinathi Nhleko to speak about the issue.

The purpose of the meeting is to lobby the ministry to set up a task team to hunt down these elderly people who impregnated these young girls, Mkhize said. Endit