Paying the price for bunking school

A visibly pregnant 15-year-old *Jabu, who said she ran away from home while doing Grade V.

MATSAPHA – Two teenage girls are regretting bunking school now that they have fallen pregnant.

Besides missing cla-sses, *Jabu (15) and Nozipho (16) would sometimes run aw-ay from their respective homes to spend time with their boyfriends. After realising that they were pre-gnant, the girls decided to hide in Mbhuleni.

However, they were found by Mbhuleni community police after their parents had reported them missing.
In separate interviews, the girls said they had intended to stay in the area until they gave birth. Both girls expressed their desire of going back to school after giving birth so they could realise their dreams.

Jabu, who is sharing a one room flat with a friend, said she wished to be a police officer. “I fell pregnant after my boyfriend refused to use a condom,” disclosed the 15 year old. Jabu is four months pregnant.
Asked why she allowed the boyfriend to have sex with her without a condom, she explained: “Watsi aka lidli liswidi eplasti-kilini. (He said he does not eat which is in a wrap).”

Besides, Jabu said the boyfriend who she described as being a violent person was older than her.
Interestingly, the teenager does not know the boyfriend’s age and place of employment.
On how she ended up at Mbhuleni, Jabu said she ran away from home when she discovered that she was pregnant.
Jabu explained that she only discovered the pregnancy after visiting a doctor about two months ago. She only thought she was just sick when visiting the doctor but was shocked to be told that she was pregnant, she said.

Asked how she met her boyfriend, Jabu said: “I quit school when I was doing Grade V to stay with my grandmother. This was after my mother fell sick. I was again hit by misfortune when my grandmother fell sick too.
“I was then adopted by an elderly woman. I was helping her with selling some wares at the Manzini Bus Rank, and that is where I met my boyfriend,” Jabu said.

She said the boyfriend has another girlfriend who is also pregnant.
In a separate interview, Nozipho said she dropped out of school after being impregnated by a schoolmate.
Nozipho, a daughter of a Man-zini based lawyer (name withheld) has been reported to the Mbhu-leni community police for absconding school and running away from home.

On Tuesday, Nozipho was found at the workstation of the community police in the company of some friends who had gone to report a case of a stolen cellphone.
While recording statements, one of the community police positively identified Nozipho as the teenager who escaped from their custody.
When questioned about her behaviour Nozipho said she decided to drop out of school at the beginning of this month after discovering that she was two months pregnant.

She was impregnated by a 17-year-old who attended a school around Lozitha.
“I would meet him after school. Then we would go to his friend’s place to engage in sexual intercourse. Sometimes I wouldn’t return home, especially during sports day on Fridays,” she said.

She pointed out that she would spend time with the boyfriend before going to sleepover at a friend’s home.
Asked when last she disappeared from home without permission, Nozipho said she left last Friday.
*Not their real names

Young girls hiding in Mbhuleni

MATSAPHA – Most of the young girls who run away from home are hiding in Mbhuleni in one room rented flats
Mbhuleni is a densely populated township, which was once known to be a crime infested area. At some point, community police discovered a brothel in the area which was later closed after the owner was threatened with police action.

Leader of the local community police, Jabulani Dlamini, said they receive a number of cases from parents on their missing children.
“Most of the cases are of girls who have reached the adolescent stage, and absconded from school. The parents plead that we search for their children before they could be tempted to join the oldest trade, prostitution,” he said.

Dlamini said some of the children were from well-off families while others were from broken families. He made an example of a 16-year old girl, whose father is a lawyer based in Manzini.

“This girl is troublesome; she is always running away from home. Recently, she ran away from the community police after she was found at a certain homestead,” Dlamini stated.
Recently the community police reunited three girls who attended school at a private school situated around Matsapha with their parents.
During the reunion, Dlamini said the girls told their parents that they were no longer interested in attending classes.

However, Dlamini said after some persuasion, the girls reluctantly agreed to go back to school. He observed that most of the girls were lured away from home by their working boyfriends or sugar-daddies.
He said the men pay rent, purchase food, clothes and expensive gadgets for the girls.
As community police, Dlamini said they always try to be on the lookout of young women roaming the area.

‘No child support grants’

MBABANE – Unlike in South Africa, government will not offer child support grants.

In South Africa, mostly single mothers, get E290 a month per child from the Social Welfare Department.
Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku said there were no such grants in the country. Instead, Masuku advised young women to refrain from falling pregnant when they were not ready.

“Such grants encourage people to fall pregnant willy-nilly. I believe a person should plan a pregnancy.
“The issue of grants, we do not encourage it, at least for me. It encourages people to transfer their responsibilities to other people, the taxpayers. It’s like telling taxpayers to provide for your unplanned child,” he said.

Masuku said the men who impregnate these young women should be responsible once the children were born. “People who intend to start a family should be mindful of children rights,” Masuku said. “The law states that a child has a right to clothing, shelter, health care, food and education,” he said.

‘Bunking could lead to serious consequences’

 MBABANE – Save the Children Swaziland has advised children not to bunk classes because it could lead to serious consequences in their lives Senelile Khumalo, Save the Children Communications Officer, said children should listen to their parents’ advice.

“They should not deceive their parents because at the end of the day who suffers the consequence? It’s them. We also warn children that being wayward impacts negatively in their lives,” warned Khumalo.

As an organisation Save the Children has programmes aimed at educating children about their sexuality. “We want to impact knowledge that would assist them in taking informed decisions. We can assist them as an organisation, but we would want to do the prevention part first. 
“We want to make sure they are aware that prevention is better than cure,” she said. Khumalo encouraged children to contact their offices in the event they faced a similar problem. “We will tell them what life is, we will never give solutions to life, but will tell them what life entails,” she added.

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