New Year’s babies: 12-year-old among those who gave birth

South Africa has welcomed New Year’s babies at several hospitals across the country with the youngest mother being just 12 years old.

The Gauteng province was blessed with 13 newborns, nine of them boys at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital.

In total, more than 200 babie were born in Gauteng in 2025.

The little bundles of joy made entry into the world just after the clock hit midnight on Tuesday ushering in the New Year.

Boys beat girls

Gauteng MEC for Health and Wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, joined mothers at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital to celebrate the arrival of their newly born babies.

Nkomo-Ralehoko jokingly expressed dismay that there were more boys born than girls.

“We have 13 babies that we have received on this day. We had a baby that was born at 12 midnight.

“But what I don’t like, because I am a woman, is that there are nine boys,” she said to laughter. “ So, I am not happy about that because I thought I would have more girls and have fewer boys. I’m biased towards girls,” she said.

Nationalities

Nkomo-Ralehoko also shared the nationalities of the babies.

“One is Mozambican. The rest of the 13, which is 12, are South African children.

“Can you see the improvement in terms of our stats because of eHealth that we’ve introduced. We are no longer thumb-sucking the numbers. We know this child is a South African,” Nkomo-Ralehoko said.

WATCH: Nkomo-Ralehoko gives an update on New Year’s babies

12-year-old mom

The Eastern Cape welcomed at least 43 babies.

MEC of Health in the Eastern Cape, Ntandokazi Capa, said one of the mothers who gave birth on New Year’s Day is 12 years old. The father is reportedly 17.

“This is quite shocking. As a department, we’ll follow up and interact with our MEC for social development at Frontier Hospital so we know who the father is.

“You can’t have a 12-year-old having a child, it’s just not acceptable,” Capa said.

WATCH: MEC of Health in the Eastern Cape on 12-year-old child who gave birth

Capa called on parents to look after their children and play a role in avoiding teenage pregnancies.

KZN

Meanwhile, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) welcomed 55 New Year babies.

Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane said the babies were delivered at various healthcare facilities across the province.

“Our first New Year’s baby is a bouncing baby boy delivered at KwaHlabisa Hospital at 12:05am, followed by another boy at 12:07am.”

Simelane said the mothers were aged between 27 and 29 years old.