Stork delivers new year bundles of joy

New Year's Day means a new year, fresh beginnings, new hopes and dreams, and that's exactly what Olumiyo Miqi's mother got. As did hundreds of other moms around the country, with nearly a quarter of them in KwaZulu-Natal.

Bonny and bouncing Olumiyo gave his mom, Thandokazi Miqi (36), the best possible start to 2026 when he was delivered at Tygerberg Hospital  at 3:12am on January 1.

Weighing a little under 4kg – 3 995 grams to be exact – he was reported to be in good health. Olumiyo is the third child of Miqi, a resident of Wallacedene in Kraaifontein.

He was one of about 600 New Year babies born across South Africa on the first day of 2026, with at least 144 of the little bundles of joy born in KwaZulu-Natal.

The province's newest resident, and KZN's first baby of the year, was born at the Queen Nandi Regional Hospital, in Empangeni, at 12.12am. He weighed 1.8kg.

Two minutes later, another baby boy was delivered at RK Khan Hospital, Chatsworth, to a 37-year-old mother.

The third New Year baby was born at the Nseleni Hospital, between eMpangeni and Richards Bay, at 12.26am to a 26-year-old mother, while the fourth arrived at 12.43am at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital.

While celebrating the arrivals, KZN's Department of Health has again raised concern about the alarming number of teenage mothers, some of them as young as 15.

KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane visited some of the mothers and their babies at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Phoenix.

Simelane said she was, "very excited" for the new mothers, and that while it was "a day worth celebrating", especially as all of the mothers and their babies were in good health, she was "deeply troubled" by how young some of the mothers were.

The youngest were two 16-year-olds who delivered their babies at Benedictine Hospital, in Nongoma, and the Queen Nandi Regional Hospital.

Simelane said that previous attempts to have men who impregnated minors charged with statutory rape had not been successful.

She also said of the pregnant girls: "The children were not willing to come to our facilities.

"So while we thought were were doing good, the young ones stopped attending our clinics and were giving birth at home, putting themselves in danger."

The stork also had a busy Christmas Day in KZN with 302 births in the province – 166 girls and 136 boys. Seventy of the mothers were teenagers.

DAILY NEWS