KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) public health facilities delivered 59 babies on Christmas Day.
KZN saw 35 boys and 24 girls born Saturday at noon.
Provincial health MEC Nomagugu Simelane said Christmas’ first baby was a boy, born at King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban.
The little boy was born to a 39-year-old mother.
“He arrived around midnight, weighing 2.82 kg,” the MEC said.
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Simelane also said five mothers were 18 or younger, further expressing concern for teenage mothers.
“We are nonetheless concerned that the youngest of these mothers is two 16-year-old girls, who gave birth at hospitals in Nkonjeni and Itshelejuba, both in Zululand district.
“We also have a 17-year-old and two 18-year-old daughter, who gave birth in Itshelejuba, Benedictine (again in Zululand district) and at Osindisweni Hospital, here in eThekwini.
“When you look at these cases, what becomes glaringly obvious is that these girls had sex when they were about a year younger than they are, which means girls of 15, 16 and 17 years old were having sex, ”she said.
“We want to reiterate that this is unacceptable, because conceiving at such a young age can be very, very dangerous for mother and child.
“A mother who is too young is not psychologically and physiologically ready to bear a child; and is at increased risk of suffering from health complications or even of losing the life of her and her baby.
“But we also want to be clear that the older men who get these young girls pregnant must be arrested and brought under the full force of the law, because what they are doing is rape that has occurred. They take advantage of girls who are economically vulnerable, ”continued the MEC.
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In the Northwest, at least 43 babies, including a pair of twins – a boy and a girl – have been delivered across the province, OFM reported.
The twins were born in the district of Bojanala, which had the most newborns on Christmas Day.
According to provincial health department spokesman Tebogo Lekgethwane, Bojanala saw a total of nine girls and five boys followed by Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality with 11 newborns.
Gauteng also saw babies born on Christmas, but the number of babies remains uncertain.