parenting

The Gauteng Department of Social Development says that most teenagers in the province admit to preferring unsafe sex.

Social development MEC, Nandi Mayathula-Khoza, who briefed the media on the department study, ‘Factors Associated with Teenage Pregnancy in Gauteng Province’, pointed out that teen pregnancies are a problem that could not be ignored.

Mayathula-Khoza, who is of the view that teenage pregnancy contributes the level of unemployment, also added that, “…girls who fall pregnant have a right to continue with school.”

The Limpopo MEC for Safety, Security and Liaison, Florence Radzilani, has accused the mothers of the three children who were found murdered at the weekend for neglecting their children.

Radzilani states that the victims were admitted to the Mantadi Child and Youth Care Centre in the Mookgophong municipality in June after they were neglected by their mothers.

She further criticised the officials at the Centre for waiting until the following day before they could report that the children were missing.

Cape Town Child Welfare says that about 20 000 children in the Western Cape are in foster care because of abuse, neglect and their parents' drug use.

The organisation’s chief executive officer, Niresh Ramklass, has been quoted by the Cape Times as saying that poverty is not helping the already bleak situation.

Ramklass further says that, "It is quite stark. It would be best if children were not taken from their homes, but if we don't have a proper social net to protect our children, they will be lost. Many of them will die."

Presidential spokesperson, Mac Maharaj, has come to the defence of one of the president’s wives, Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, who had suggested that child support grants be scrapped and the money used instead for old-age pensions.

Ntuli-Zuma was quoted by the New Age as saying that, “Most young teen mothers dump their babies with their grandmothers, while gallivanting around and abusing the grants money” on luxury items, including cellphone airtime.