KZN with highest number of child marriages
KZN has been ranked as the province with the highest cases of girls who are or have been involved in child marriages.
Stats SA released its Community Survey Statistics Report last year which found that 91 000 girls in the country between the ages of 12 and 17 are married, divorced, separated, widowed or living with a partner as husband and wife.
More than 25 000 cases are from KZN.
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Professor Dierdre Byrne is the chairperson of the Unisa-Africa Girl Development Programme. She says child marriage is prevalent due to socio-economic challenges like poverty.
"South Africa has a number of people living below the poverty line - that's below a dollar a day. Those people become desperate and they can easily resort to all kinds of things such as selling their children. Marrying your very yound child daughter off to a man is usually motivated by economics. You combine this with a strong patriarchal culture in the country where girls are not valued," she says.