Just in case you've been so consumed with Osama bin Laden's assassination that you missed this one, the ANC Youth League recently suggested that the government should provide contraceptives to girls from the age of 12.
The league maintains that this will help curb the runaway problem of teenage pregnancies.
The proposal is apparently contained in a discussion paper to be tabled at its national congress in June. I must confess that I haven't seen the document, but I think the debate is well overdue.
I know our puritanical society doesn't want to deal with issues remotely related to sex, let alone when they affect young girls.
In fact, even the most openminded of people can't talk about this subject without squirming or blushing. It is darn difficult, but here is the reality.
While the idea of a 12-year-old popping a contraceptive pill every morning after brushing her teeth makes you uncomfortable, the reality is that children today are engaged in sex from a very early age.
Whether it is voluntary or unsolicited sex - as in the case of child prostitution - children as young as 12 are doing it.
And before some of you start getting excited and questioning the downward spiral of the country's morals, let me remind you that teenage pregnancy is a global epidemic, affecting just about every society.
There are those who feel that government intervention in providing sex education, contraceptives and abortion is akin to condoning or facilitating sexual activity for under-age kids. These are people who feel strongly that this approach promotes promiscuity and moral decay.
While we're at it, I might as well remind you that, in this country, women under the age of 18 are allowed to have an abortion without the consent of their parents. This effectively means that a child of 12 may seek one without the parents' consent.
We need to face reality and offer our children a comprehensive strategy to address the problem of teenage pregnancy. Sex education that simply offers abstinence, or an approach that simply dispenses contraceptives, does not work.
Governments around the world spend copious amounts of money on public health information around teenage sexuality, but these programmes have failed.
The solution lies in understanding the complex and varied factors that are at the heart of teenage pregnancy. They have more to do with the social conditions in which the child lives than his or her deviant behaviour.
Research has shown that the risk of early pregnancy is higher in poorer communities, the result of which is uneducated and uninformed societies. We know that it is in such social conditions that the imbalance of power relations between men and women thrives, hence women will trade sex for their immediate financial needs. It is here that women get involved with older men who can take care of their economic needs.
It is in these conditions that the stigma about sexuality abounds, and where there is the lack of an environment conducive to an open discussion about sex between parents and children, teachers and their pupils, and within the larger community.
In general, women still struggle to negotiate for protected sex, but it gets even harder for poorer, uneducated women. The risk of pregnancy, therefore, is higher - and even more devastating is the risk of contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
It is in poorer communities that children are less likely to have access to education, and girls more than boys bear the brunt.
Whatever shape and form the ANCYL's discussion paper takes, I hope it looks at an integrated approach to stemming what ultimately has a negative impact on the lives of young girls and society as a whole.
Education should be an intrinsic part of this proposal. Education provides girls and women with a better knowledge of basic health and family planning, and gives them the power to make informed choices about their sexuality.
It provides girls with the opportunity to contribute in sociopolitical spheres and enables them to lift their communities out of the morass of poverty.
Free, compulsory and quality education at primary-school level is a basic human right that should be the major thrust of the battle against teenage pregnancies. Educate your girls first before dispensing the pill and the condom.
Source: Sunday Times
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