The rise of ‘sugar daddies’ and ‘Ben10s’deprive the country

The rise of ‘sugar daddies’ and ‘Ben10s’deprive the country 

Mushakabvu waka Kajengo

 This week, it reported that in KwaZulu-Natal alone, more than 3000 girls dropped out of matric due to pregnancy. These high pregnancy rates largely been attributed to “sugar daddies”.

While the Basic Education department no longer keeps record each year, in 2011 there were 94 000 reports of teenage pregnancies nationwide.  

It also been reported that 1 in 4 high school girls are contracting HIV through relationships with sugar daddies. 

We believe that the youth of South Africa need to talk about how both young girls and guys, being sexually abused by older members of society through transactional sex. The phenomena of sugar daddies and Ben10s represent a myriad of issues the youth are facing today. These issues include HIV, teenage pregnancy, date rape, patriarchy as well as jobs.

 As part of the DA Youth Speak out Sessions, this Saturday 25 January 2014, we will be having youth-only town halls all across the country as a platform to discuss the following topic: “The Rise of Sugar Daddies and Ben10s”. 

 We would like to challenge and invite all young people of South Africa to come out and use this opportunity to have them heard. 

 We will also be doing a Twitter town hall on this topic on Thursday, at 7pm. The hash tag will be #SugarDaddySOS.

 DA encourage the youth to check out the DA Youth Facebook page as well as our Twitter account, @DA_Youth, and to attend our Speak Out session this Saturday.