"When children get pregnant it's usually an accident. In most cases it's not intentional," that's according to Timothy Bainbridge, regional director for the South African Chapter of the Save the Children NGO. "It is unacceptable that some politicians imply that poor girls are so conniving to get R240…" is according to Marcella Naidoo, national director of Black Sash, an NGO (City Press, 15 Nov 2009).
In September, former governor of the Reserve Bank, Tito Mboweni said that it is an urban legend that girls become pregnant just to get their hands on child-support grant. Staggering statistics show that in 1998 more than 21 000 children were on the child-support grand system and just 10 years later this number is close on 9 million.
21-year-old Akhona Mhlawuli, mother to a one-year-old daughter, from Elias Motsoaledi informal settlement in Soweto says she cannot apply for a child-support grant for her daughter because she doesn't have a birth certificate for her, and she doesn't have an ID. Akhona lives with her mother, her 13-year-old sister (who receives a child-support grant) and her 23-year-old sister, Nosiyabonga, who has THREE children each receiving a child-support grant. Even though Akhona and her boyfriend (also 21) never took preventative measures when having sex, she said falling pregnant was a "mistake". "It wasn't my aim to get pregnant. My boyfriend didn't want to use condoms. I love him and so I agreed" says Akhona.
With such opulence or profusion of information relating to teen pregnancy at our disposal, it is atrocious to hear the afore-mentioned rhetoric. As part of curriculum, schools endeavour in raising awareness about the implications of teenage pregnancy; available contraceptive options; and most gravely HIV & AIDS. Do Akhona and some youngsters like her expect Home Affairs officials come to their houses grab them by their hands and escort them to Home Affairs offices to make proper applications? Common sense! How often are young girls informed that they need not sleep with their boyfriends to prove that they love them? Love is blind – they say – or they wanted to say Ignorance. How informed are school kids about issues relating to HIV? Anyway, most still think they are immune to the virus!
What constitute a mistake? I believe that a mistake happens in a split of a second, with no opportunity to think or even consult. When we decide to have sex, remember the process of fondling, kissing and undressing – within which we have the sovereignty to change our initial thoughts, but alas excitement dictates terms for the ill informed couple to ride-on. For crying out loud, Maria conceived Jesus without coital engagement, then how does a person who engages in unprotected coitus expect not to fall pregnant. Mind-boggling! For how long are we going to play dumb by blaming everything and everyone, but ourselves, for the actions that we voluntarily make? What will it take to eradicate the victim mentality that we assume when things don't turn out as we anticipated?
When millions of people depend on social grants for sustenance, I also believe we are running the risk of the social grants becoming an end in themselves and thus nurturing a dependency syndrome, destroying the fabric of our society? Maybe I'm just thinking aloud…
