Introductory address by Mmapaseka Steve Letsike, MP at the National Consultation Indaba on Adolescent Pregnancy, Kempton Park
“Accelerating action on adolescent pregnancy for a sustainable future”
Programme Director, Ms Shoki Tshabalala;
Your Excellency, Deputy President Paul Mashatile;
Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga, in absentia;
Colleagues from the National Executive;
Partners in government, in civil society, in multilateral organisations;
traditional and faith leaders; and
the young people whose voices are central to our work — good morning.
Allow me to begin by expressing our collective pride in South Africa’s leadership during our historic G20 Presidency. Under the stewardship of President Cyril Ramaphosa, supported ably by Deputy President Paul Mashatile, our country not only chaired a complex and high-stakes Presidency — we delivered a Leader’s Summit that demonstrated moral clarity, intellectual depth, and developmental leadership on the global stage.
This Presidency did more than convene world powers. It repositioned Africa as an active author of global priorities, advanced the development agenda of the Global South, and reminded the international community that multilateralism must return to its founding values: solidarity, equality, and sustainability.
The adoption of a unified and forward-looking Leader’s Declaration stands as a testament to South Africa’s diplomatic strength, collaborative spirit, and commitment to a more just global order.
Today, I stand here as a proud South African, recognising how our leadership — under President Ramaphosa and Deputy President Mashatile — represented our nation with dignity, courage, and conviction at a time when global democracy is under profound pressure.
Colleagues, we gather at this moment under a theme that is both hopeful and urgent — Every Girl, Every Dream — but we must speak plainly: South Africa is facing a national crisis of adolescent and teenage pregnancy. This crisis is not peripheral. It is not episodic. It is a deep wound in our social fabric, a symptom of a society that is still wrestling with the intersecting forces of inequality, violence, and generational trauma.
The data is stark and sobering. In the 2024/25 financial year alone, 117 195 girls aged 10–19 gave birth — each number a story of interrupted possibility. Among girls aged 15–19, one in every 24 gave birth. When we include terminations of pregnancy, the adolescent pregnancy rate rises to 48.9 per 1 000. More devastatingly, pregnancies among 10–14-year-old children — at 1.2 per 1 000 — confront us with a painful truth: these are not merely pregnancies; many are violations. Many are statutory rapes. Many reflect our collective failure to protect childhood itself.
But adolescent pregnancy does not exist in isolation. It sits at the epicentre of three mutually reinforcing crises that disproportionately affect girls:
First, the crisis of unplanned and coerced pregnancies, where power imbalances and economic precarity leave girls vulnerable to exploitation, manipulation, or silence.
Second, the crisis of new HIV infections, which continue to rise among adolescent girls and young women, fueled by unequal relationships and limited agency over their sexual health.
Third, the crisis of gender-based violence and femicide, where violence shapes not only the lives of women but increasingly the lives of girls — girls who cannot negotiate consent, who cannot insist on safety, and who cannot trust the adults or institutions meant to protect them.
Together, these form a dangerous triad — a triangle of vulnerability that traps young women at the intersection of health risk, social risk, and structural violence. Breaking this triangle is not a policy preference; it is a national obligation.
If we are to speak honestly, we must acknowledge that adolescent pregnancy is not about individual choices made in isolation. It is the outcome of structural injustice — centuries in the making, reproduced across generations, and entrenched within the mundane rhythms of daily life.
It is driven by:
Harmful social norms and patriarchal masculinities — narratives that tell girls to be silent and tell boys that dominance is their birthright. Norms that make women responsible for managing men’s behaviour instead of holding men accountable for their own conduct.
Poverty and inequality — conditions in which girls must navigate survival before they can dream. Conditions that force dependence on older men for dignity, for transport, for toiletries, for schoolbooks. Conditions where transactional relationships become normalized because poverty is an everyday reality.
Structural inequality in schooling — where some schools have comprehensive sexuality education and supportive teachers, while others silenced the topic, stigmatise young people, or harbour teachers who abuse their own learners.
Limited access to adolescent-friendly SRHR services — where clinics judge instead of welcome, moralise instead of support, and turn away the very young people they are meant to serve.
Community silence — where early pregnancy is treated as a girl’s shame instead of a community failure; where perpetrators are protected because they are providers, pastors, or politically connected; where families prioritise reputation over justice.
Institutional fragmentation in government — where departments do extraordinary work, but often in parallel, not in synergy; where policy does not translate into practice because coordination remains weak.
Unless our interventions directly confront these structural drivers — poverty, power, patriarchy, silence, and institutional fragmentation — we will simply recycle the crisis into the next generation. And we must refuse to do so.
South Africa is a youthful nation. Our youth are our greatest potential. But teenage pregnancy is watering down that potential. It pulls girls out of school. It locks them out of opportunity. It deepens intergenerational poverty. It increases risk of HIV. It entrenches cycles of dependence.
A country cannot claim a demographic dividend while adolescent girls — those who should be tomorrow’s engineers, doctors, leaders, creators — carry structural burdens on their shoulders.
Ending adolescent pregnancy, therefore, is not simply a social programme. It is a national development strategy, a gender justice imperative, and a constitutional promise.
If we do not act with urgency, the cost of inaction will continue to be written on the bodies, futures, and lifelines of thousands of girls across our country. In the 2024/25 financial year alone, 117 195 adolescent births were recorded — a staggering figure that represents not only individual hardship but the reproduction of poverty, curtailed education, and heightened vulnerability to HIV and gender-based violence.
Each of these pregnancies carries ripple effects: a girl who leaves school prematurely; a family stretched beyond its means; a child born into conditions shaped by inequality; and a community left to navigate the burdens that follow. When we fail to intervene, we entrench generational disadvantage and we allow the structural drivers — poverty, coercion, harmful masculinities, and unequal access to healthcare — to deepen their roots.
The cost of inaction is not only social and moral; it is economic and developmental. Young mothers are far less likely to complete schooling or enter the workforce, leading to diminished lifetime earnings and reduced participation in the labour market. South Africa’s economy absorbs this loss through decreased productivity, increased social welfare strain, and the compounding effects of intergenerational poverty.
Inaction threatens our constitutional promise of equality and undermines the demographic dividend we seek to unlock. If we remain passive, we do not merely risk falling behind — we risk institutionalising a future where the dreams of girls are continuously deferred, and the Republic forfeits the talent, innovation, and leadership that adolescent girls could offer.
This Indaba must therefore mark a turning point. We are laying the foundation for the National Strategic Plan for Adolescent Pregnancy, but the blueprint alone will not transform lives.
Transformation requires a whole-of-society approach, where:
Government drives coordination, accountability, and resource alignment.
Schools become sites of empowerment, safety, and knowledge — not silence.
Health services welcome young people with dignity, without moral policing.
Faith and traditional leaders become champions of protection, not gatekeepers of shame.
Civil society and community organisations amplify the voices of girls at risk.
Parents and caregivers replace judgement with nurturing, silence with guidance.
Communities break the culture of looking away, refusing to shield perpetrators from consequences.
A whole-of-society response means we refuse to tolerate parallel efforts. We build integrated, coordinated pathways of prevention, support, and empowerment.
And let me address a constituency that must stop being spoken about and instead begin speaking and acting: the men of this country.
South Africa cannot continue pretending that girls are falling pregnant in isolation. Behind every adolescent pregnancy is an older man, a partner with power, or a system that has normalised male entitlement.
So today, I issue a direct and radical call:
Men must be more than allies — they must be participants, protectors, advocates, and activists for girls’ rights and bodily autonomy.
Men must confront other men.
Men must dismantle harmful masculinities.
Men must end the culture of silence.
Men must refuse to look away.
The future of our girls demands nothing less than a revolution in how men understand power, consent, and responsibility.
Allow me to conclude by acknowledging the leadership of the Deputy President. From his early days in the struggle, through civic organising in Alexandra, through his roles as MEC, Premier, Minister, Treasurer-General, and now Deputy President, His Excellency has dedicated his life to building a society grounded in justice, dignity, and social cohesion. His long-standing commitment to youth empowerment, women’s rights, inclusive development, and democratic renewal continues to guide the national response to the challenges before us.
Distinguished Guests, as we embark on this Indaba, we stand ready to receive clear direction, to take firm action, and to build a decisive national pathway toward ending adolescent pregnancy. Only then can we truly harness the demographic dividend embodied in our youth and secure a South Africa where every girl can dream freely, safely, and boldly.
It is now my profound honour to introduce the video message by the Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, His Excellency Deputy President Paul Shipokosa Mashatile.
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