LISTEN | ‘Don’t get pregnant as soon as you can’: Zille on fatherless families

27 December 2024 - 13:08
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DA federal chairperson Helen Zille has criticised societal roleplayers who are not creating an environment where children can grow up safely and with adequate support. File photo.
DA federal chairperson Helen Zille has criticised societal roleplayers who are not creating an environment where children can grow up safely and with adequate support. File photo.
Image: Alon Skuy

Concerned about children abandoned by fathers, DA federal chair Helen Zille has told women “your responsibility is not to get pregnant as soon as you can”.

Zille said parents must complete their education and get a job to ensure a great future for their children, while criticising societal roleplayers who are not creating an environment where children can grow up safely and with adequate support.

She compared the impact of absent fathers to the effects of a corrupt government.

“So many families are a woman and children. Where's the father? Not there. Those are people who are destroying South Africa as much as a corrupt government, people who don't take responsibility for their children,” Zille said.

She was responding to a question from podcaster MacG about the state of the nation.

“Government is not fulfilling its part of the compact we made in 1994,” she said.

“Government has to make sure it fulfils basic service delivery, gives people an opportunity at education and health, and creates conditions to grow the economy so every person can come into the world safely and become the best they can be.”

Listen to Zille:

Zille said responsibility for the social compact is not only the government’s job but citizens’ too.

Stats SA has reported close to half of South African children lack regular daily interaction with their fathers. Data published in October last year revealed 44.1% of children lived only with their mothers, compared to 3.7% who lived with their fathers.

Only 31.7% of black children live with their biological fathers, compared with 51.3% of coloured children, 86.1% of Indian or Asian children and 80.2% of white children, according to Stats SA.

TimesLIVE


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