The Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to the Chairperson of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Committee in Parliament requesting a joint meeting with the presence of South African Police Service (SAPS), the Department of Social Development (DSD), the Department of Health (DoH), the Department of Basic Education (DBE), and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to address the surge in child and teen pregnancies, and why too few perpetrators are being prosecuted.
In the 2025/26 financial year, 421 children aged 10 to 14 years old fell pregnant in KwaZulu-Natal alone. This is almost three children being impregnated every two days, in just one province.
These figures point to widespread sexual abuse.
This meeting and hearing by Parliament must break the divided approach between departments, which is failing vulnerable children. A coordinated system is urgently required to strengthen reporting, improve case tracking, and ensure cases are carried through to prosecution.
A child pregnancy is, in many cases, evidence of a crime. South African law is clear: children under 12 cannot consent to sex, and for those aged 12 to 16, consent is not legally valid except in limited peer-age exceptions.
But far too often, the social workers responsible fail to report these crimes, local police refuse to accept them, or local police do not know how to handle these cases. The perverse reality is that many cannot complete the onerous paperwork to report the suspected crime, or cannot spend days and weeks in dragged-out court hearings that take them out of their work. The same applies to the doctors, nurses, midwives and other clinicians involved.
Both the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act and the Children’s Act impose mandatory reporting obligations. Where a child under 16 is pregnant, there is at least a reasonable suspicion of a sexual offence, and reporting is required.
The DA will not let this go on – children are being raped and impregnated, and responsible authorities are not doing what they must. The joint sitting we are calling for must deliver a unified reporting protocol, proper case tracking, and accountability to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice and sent to jail.
The law is clear, government must act.