21 Feb 2022

Anti-teenage pregnancies messages should not target teenagers only, but parents too.  

Jwaneng mayor, Ms Olga Ditsie, said this after a walk against teenage pregnancy campaign themed Be Part of Our Story: Stop Teenage Pregnancy, #talk early, #talk often in Jwaneng on Friday.

“Parents are the guardians of these children and they should make it a habit to talk to the children about sexual issues. Although it is culturally difficult, our children have to know the changes that occur when they get old and parents should not allow them to be taught by nature because in that way, they may learn it the hard way and it may be too late,” she said.

She cautioned that in talking to their young ones, parents should not be too angelic, but sit their children down in a parental manner.

“As parents we know these issues from experience as we have also been there, so we should not give the kids the impression that we are angels and have never experienced what they experience. In that way they will be able to relate and therefore open up to us, giving us an opportunity to engage them,” she said.

Ms Ditsie advised the students that although sexual desires would ultimately come with age, if ever they get tempted, they should resist and abstain.

She said the temptation might be too strong especially at this time of COVID 19 when most households’ incomes had been affected, in some instances even forcing parents to turn a blind eye to their children’s affairs with elderly men.

Ms Distie also raised concern that more often than not, messages against teenage pregnancies were only focused on men having sexual relations with the girl-child, while that of children having affairs amongst themselves was often neglected.

“We are all aware that there are sexual relations between students themselves and they too need to be addressed because they can equally destroyed kids future. This is because teenage pregnancies can also bring along other risks like HIV and AIDS infections, which will be a burden to the already financially overwhelmed parents,” she said.

Ms Ditsie said because Jwaneng was mostly male populated and with the perception that the males have money, such issues will therefore always be a challenge.

Giving the statistics of all cases that concern children 18 years and below in Jwaneng, Sub Inspector Catherine Wamakala of Jwaneng police said in 2020 from October to December, they registered five cases of rape, 11 defilements while assault while threat to kill and murder had one case each. She said even though she did not have the compiled statistics for this year yet, the trend of the already registered indicated that there was still a problem.

Sub Inspector Wamakala said that part of the reasons for such cases was the desire of material things by young ones, such as money and cellphones.

She also said there was a growing concern where parents were so keen on pregnancy terminations as they wanted their children to go back to school. Ends