Limpopo Premier Phophi Ramathuba said healthcare workers who do not report teenage pregnancy were equally secondary raping children and indirectly protecting men who impregnate them.
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Limpopo Premier Phophi Ramathuba said healthcare workers who do not report teenage pregnancies were equally secondary raping children and indirectly protecting men who impregnate them.
Ramathuba said there was no such thing that doctors cannot report the cases due to confidentiality laws because every hospital has trained staff members responsible for such matters.
This also included police stations and other government institutions responsible for the safety of citizens, especially women, girls, and children.
In an interview with the SABC, the premier said the only resource they lacked from the government was the state of attitude.
“It's the passion that we need from those who are serving the public.
“Once there is that commitment from all of us, for example, from a schoolteacher who picks up this problem, to the doctor who attends to the patient, to the prosecutor, then the magistrate or the judge will have facts and will be able to arrest, until such time we can successfully prosecute and see conviction of somebody sent to jail for statutory rape,” she said.
This comes after it was reported that 31 of the mothers who gave birth on Christmas Day in the province were teenagers.
This also follows the arrest of a 28-year-old man for alleged statutory rape of a 13-year-old who also gave birth on Christmas Day.
A 16-year-old from the North West province and three 15-year-olds from KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) were among those who gave birth on the day.
Ramathuba cautioned medical professionals that failing to report such instances could result in criminal charges being brought against them.
The Children's Act's Section 110 requires teachers, physicians, nurses, social workers, police officers, and other professionals who work with children to report any suspicions of child abuse, including statutory rape or sexual abuse.
These people have been called mandated reporters. Failure to report is a crime and can result in fines, up to five years in jail, or both, if found guilty.
Ramathuba mentioned they were not decisive enough and not taking action against the people who commit such crimes, yet politicians and other prominent figures were blamed.
"We can blame politicians, we can blame parents, we can blame poverty, but you, who is a professional working in that police station, clinic, or hospital, and you are doing nothing; you are equally secondary raping this girl child,” she maintained.
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