About 700 girls under the age of 15 gave birth in Zimbabwe last year, a shocking fact that has spurred calls for the government to impose harsh sentences and take stern action against those who sexually harass underage children.
This disturbing figure of pregnant minors was documented in the Zimbabwe Statistical Agency (Zimstat) Vital Statistics Report in 2022 and was recently raised in Parliament by Matabeleland North member Dr Ruth Labode, who stated that the government must take immediate action to prevent child pregnancies.
”I am making reference to the Zimbabwe Statistics. Disaggregated data on the Distribution of Births by Age of Mother released during the launch of the Zimbabwe Statistical Agency (ZimStats) Vital Statistics Report shows that 700 girls aged 10 to 14 gave birth in 2022. What does this say about this country?” Dr Labode asked.
“Could the Minister of Health and Child Care bring a Ministerial Statement and tell us what strategy they have to curb this scourge of teenage pregnancies. A ten year old is not a teenager but a baby.”
In response Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Monica Mutsvangwa, said this issue required joint efforts, as it is not only the duty of the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare.
“This question touches a lot of Zimbabweans, in particular a lot of women. The issue of teenage pregnancies is an issue which the whole country is seized with. The Government is seized with it and the Ministry of Health is putting a lot of strategies which they would need to articulate in this House,” Mutsvangwa said.
“I think it is in order when the Hon. Member asked for a Ministerial Statement which will articulate step by step of what they are doing. To have 700 young girls aged 10 to 14 getting pregnant is very sad. A ten-year-old is a child and what has gone wrong with our people? This is an issue which is not going to be just dealt with by the Ministry of Health alone but inter-ministerial strategy. This is something which we need to understand from the Home Affairs Ministry to see how many people have been jailed or castrated if they need to be.”
Mutsvangwa added child pregnancies were ‘painful’ to bear because a “ten-year-old is a baby and for any person in his right sense to take her as a woman is unthinkable.”
“I think there is an element of madness which needs to be dealt with; an element of cruelty or animal behavior which needs to be dealt with. Penalties should be quite high. I would obviously take this up with my colleagues,” said the information minister.
“We need to get that report and I certainly agree with her so that at least we can work together as a country. It is about all of us as leaders in the areas where we live. It is also about us as parents to work together, united as Zimbabweans to fight against this evil.”
