Zuma firm on pregnant teens

2008-11-17 19:39

Oris Mnisi & Sydney Masinga

Bushbuckridge - ANC president Jacob Zuma has suggested that pregnant schoolgirls be sent to boarding schools far from home so that they can focus on their education without any distractions.

Addressing an ANC rally at the Thulamahashe stadium in Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga on Saturday, Zuma said there were reports that pregnant teenagers were leaving school in shame.

"I will recommend to the ANC that we send these young girls to boarding schools far from home so that they can concentrate on their studies, rather than worry about their peers who are mocking them for being pregnant," said Zuma.

Zuma added that education should be free.

Meanwhile, he warned ANC members to stop disrupting meetings called by other political parties.

"I repeat that. Stop it, now! Stop it, now! I don’t think we would like it if people disrupted our meetings. We are a democratic country and I think all of us have to learn that people have rights called freedom of association which are guaranteed in the Constitution. We cannot interfere with that right," said Zuma.

He also advised members of the ANC to allow anyone who wanted to leave the party to do so.

"Stop following the snakes when they run into the bush. If you follow them you will end up cold because they will go into holes," he said.

Mpumalanga roads and transport MEC, Jackson Mthembu, who was the programme director, attacked the supporters of the new Congress of the People (Cope) party and said ANC members who had defected to Cope had never been loyal to the ANC.

Quoting from the Bible, he said: "They went out from us but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us."

Zuma said the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) would hold a second round of voter registration in February, which allowed the ANC more time to lobby for new voters.

"Go and encourage people to register to vote and also teach them about the importance of voting," said Zuma.

- African Eye