Poverty the Cause of Teenage Pregnancy in Thulamela Municipality

AbstractThe majority of South Africans who live in the rural areas are poverty stricken as they are unemployed and mostly depend on grants. Poverty among children is said to be extremely high and therefore government policies promote poverty alleviation by offering Child Support Grants (CSG). The present paper seeks to investigate whether or not CSGs influences young teenage girls to fall pregnant in order to gain access to the grant money. The investigation was prompted by the fact that every beginning of the month at Thohoyandou (South Africa) shopping complex the researcher would come across long queues of teenage mothers at the banks with babies on their backs. Therefore, the purpose of the paper was to explore and get from 'the horses' mouths' whether or not poverty is the major cause of the teenage pregnancy. A qualitative research methodology has been employed using a questionnaire with a list of ten questions that are related to the causes of teenage pregnancy. Ten (10) participants responded orally to the questions. Although, the participants agreed that other factors also played a role, they agreed that poverty was the major (80%) reason teenagers fall pregnant. It is therefore, recommended that young children receive support straight from the government through education. The issues of sexuality, and teenage pregnancy and poverty alleviation should be included in the curriculum as early as the Foundation Grades.Key Words: AdolescentFinancial SecuritySexParentsKnowledge