9-year-old pregnant girl gives birth

THE nine-year-old girl from Masekesa village in Tsholotsho who made headlines recently after it emerged she was heavily pregnant has given birth to a baby boy.

State media reports the girl gave birth to a baby boy early Monday morning.

She becomes the second youngest mother worldwide.

Officials from the police department of social welfare in the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare are investigating the circumstances surrounding the pregnancy.

The girl, according to some reports, was under the care of United Bulawayo Hospital.

Police have however arrested the father of the girl despite several attempts by the authorities to persuade the minor to reveal the perpetrator.

Reports have however indicated that the 29-year-old father incredibly claimed that goblins visited his daughter on the nights only when her mother was away and inserted things into her privates.

Globally, an estimated 15 per cent of young women give birth before age 18.

Zimbabwe has had a high increase of child marriages and early pregnancies with authorities in the country saying more than a third of girls are married before the age of 18, and some are married before 15.

This year President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed into law the Marriages Act that prohibits the marriage of minors under the age of 18 and criminalises child marriages.

In 2018, about 3,000 girls dropped out of school because of pregnancies.

In 2019, that number remained relatively steady whilst in 2020, the number rose to 4,770.

The figure skyrocketed in 2020 to about 5,000 students got pregnant in the year's first two months.