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Thandeka Moyo-Ndlovu, Senior Health Reporter
ALONG the Bulawayo-Beitbridge Highway lies Mawabeni area, a small settlement located just after Esigodini from Bulawayo.

The place is popularly known for its rich gold deposits. Lately, it has become home to many vulnerable and pregnant teenagers who have been gradually dropping out of school in recent years.

This year alone, six schools surrounding the area recorded over 100 teenage pregnancies from learners aged 12 to 17 years of age.

The most worrying trend, however, is that a majority of these learners are beneficiaries of bursaries from development partners, who are now counting losses as a result of girls who dropped out of school after falling pregnant.

Statistics from the Ministry of Health and Child Care show that from January to June, of the 367 teenage pregnancies recorded in Matabeleland South, the majority of them were reported in Umzingwane District which had 61 cases followed by Beitbridge with 60 pregnancies.

Bulilima recorded 58 pregnancies while Matobo had 57. In Gwanda, 51 teenagers fell pregnant while 48 were recorded in Mangwe. The lowest number of pregnancies was recorded in Insiza where 31 girls aged below 16 years gave birth.
Besides the high number of teenage girls falling pregnant, Matabeleland South also has the highest HIV prevalence in Zimbabwe where it is estimated that 19,58 percent of people in the province are positive.

Mawabeni Ward 3 Councillor William Ngwenya said most of the pregnancies that have been recorded from schools are unaccounted for as relatives chose not to report abusive parents and guardians.
He said most of the girls are impregnated by their uncles and grandfathers, making it difficult for communities to intervene.

Cllr Ngwenya said in 2022 development partners lost millions of dollars in form of schools fees that was paid for orphaned vulnerable girls who fell pregnant.

“We are wounded as a people because organisations that came in to help our orphaned and vulnerable children lost millions in terms of fees paid for children only to realise they fell pregnant during the year. Others were in Form 4 and meant to sit for final public examinations, but all the resources went down the drain due to unwanted pregnancies,” he said.

“We had a meeting with stakeholders recently and discovered that organisations like CAMFED and Plan International lost millions due to girls who fell pregnant and it’s not girls from well-up families, but the vulnerable ones.”

The country was supported by the EU to the tune of US$30 million for the first phase to help Zimbabwe meet some of its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 3 and 5) on empowering women and girls to realise their full potential in a violence free, gender-responsive and inclusive environment. Mawabeni Secondary which is located a few metres from the highway recorded 31 case of pregnant learners by the end of last term. Some of the learners who were in Form Four failed to sit for public examinations.

Other affected schools include Matshetshe, Esikhoveni Primary, Esikhoveni Secondary, Mzinyathi Primary and Mzinyathi Secondary Schools.

There are reports that at Esikhoveni Secondary School, about 30 girls aged between 13 and 16 fall pregnant every year.
The councillor said three learners from Mawabeni Primary School fell pregnant.

“It’s sad to see our children turning their backs on bright futures because education is a step in the right direction. The other worrying thing is that we have relatives who conceal pregnancies emanating from sexual abuse by family members,” he said.

“Some of the girls fall pregnant after indulging with their grandfathers and uncles. We also have school-going boys who impregnated their peers, and it becomes difficult to handle these cases but, the bottom line is that our girls are doomed.”
Cllr Ngwenya called for strong measures to be taken to address the increasing rate of teenage pregnancies.

“We need deliberate measures and I even think we should examine these girls monthly to monitor them so that resources are not wasted on children who are pregnant. Abusive relatives and parents should also face the music, police must be deployed to help uproot rotten apples who go around impregnating girls and ruining their future,” he said.

For Ms Sithulisiwe Dube who handles the child abuse cases in the community, parents have failed to bring up good citizens hence the increase in pregnancies.

“We have a lot of Form Ones to Three who are falling pregnant at an alarming rate and sadly the community is helpless we do not even know what to do. Children have become so disobedient such that they cannot be reprimanded or counselled,” she said.

“We have a busy business centre where everything happens because even business people are no longer shy to sell beer to underage children. Our children are easily enticed by gold panners who go around flashing money and that is how they fall prey.”

Ms Dube said there are also boys who do part time panning during the weekends and get pocket money to spend on girls.
“We do have boys in the community who impregnate two girls at a time, and surely there is no future for our children,” she said.

Ms Dube said the Government should come up with strategies that will address the situation as the community had tried everything with no success.

“We long for projects tailor-made for these girls who fall pregnant because many fail to pick themselves up. Others fall pregnant again before going back to school hence the need for recreational centres and self-help projects to help them get back on their feet,” she said.

Mr Khulekani Moyo said the Mawabeni community could soon become home to single mothers if nothing is done urgently to address the scourge.

“We are afraid of what will become of these children and since it’s the festive season we know that once schools close, we will have another spike in pregnancies. I pray that we also tackle the issue of outsiders who flood this place in search of  gold as they end up impregnating our children,” she said.

“These people should be brought to book because they are to blame as well. It’s sad to see our children go through all these troubles without being able to get help.”

The National Aids Council (NAC) co-ordinator Mr John Ngwenya said teenage pregnancies are reversing gains made in the district in the fight against HIV and Aids.

He said although Government and donor-funded programmes are in place to help keep girls in school, more efforts are needed to curb the scourge.

“Indeed HIV prevalence is high, but we are worried by the number of girls who keep falling pregnant and dropping out of school. This means we are taking one step forward and five steps backward because we cannot eradicate HIV when we still have people indulging in unsafe sex,” said Mr Ngwenya.

“Those who are falling pregnant are not even young women, but girls who according to law cannot consent to sex.”
UN Women communications specialist Mr Innocent Katsande said empowerment of local communities to find their own solutions is important.

“Women should not be left to fight alone. In our social discourse, there should never be room for women to be taken advantage of, especially based on their economic status,” he said.

According to the Ministry of Women Affairs, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development, about 220 Zimbabwean minors were raped between January and September 2022 out of a total of 435 reported rape cases in the country.

In addition, a total of 959 sexual violence cases were reported during the same period.

Recently, a nine-year-old Tsholotsho girl was raped and fell pregnant. The girl was assisted to deliver her baby at United Bulawayo Hospital. –@thamamoe