JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – The purported birth of 10 babies at once which grabbed international headlines earlier this month was a hoax, the South African government said on Wednesday.
The woman who was reported by a newspaper to have delivered the decuplets – which would have been a world record – has been detained for psychiatric evaluation, an official said.
“It has now been established by medical practitioners that Ms Gosiame Sithole did not give birth to any babies in recent times. It has also been established that she was not pregnant in recent times,” Gauteng provincial government spokesman Thabo Masebe said.
The government says it has instructed its lawyers to sue Independent Media, publishers of the Pretoria News and the newspaper’s editor Piet Rampedi over a public statement issued last week which alleged that Steve Biko Academic Hospital – purportedly the medical facility at which the babies were delivered – had been negligent, and that the government had caused the disappearance of the babies to cover up the failures.
“These allegations are false, unsubstantiated and only serve to tarnish the good reputation of Steve Biko Academic Hospital and the Gauteng provincial government. The Gauteng provincial government is deeply concerned by the conduct of Independent Media, particularly the editor of the Pretoria News, Mr Piet Rampedi. The government has instructed the state attorney to institute legal action against Mr Rampedi and the Independent Group,” the government statement said.
The Pretoria News reported that the record births happened on June 14. The newspaper carried pictures of an apparently heavily-pregnant Sithole and her husband, Teboho Tsotetsi, which it said were taken a month previously but had been kept under wraps at the request of the couple until she delivered.
But almost immediately, the story began to unravel after a government official said following checks, no hospital had delivered 10 babies by one woman. The mystery only deepened when Tsotetsi, who had told the newspaper that Sithole sent him a WhatsApp message to confirm the birth of the tots – two more than they expected – said he could not locate his wife and filed a missing person’s report.
Police located Sithole at a relative’s house in Tembisa township in response to the missing person inquiry, and handed her over to social services.
She was taken to Tembisa Hospital on June 18 where “various medical tests were conducted on her to determine her state of health,” the government said.
“Initially, she was meant to be kept at the hospital for 72 hours, which lapsed on Tuesday, June 22, 2021. Upon completing their preliminary examination on Monday, June 21, 2021, her doctors recommended that she be kept at the hospital for a further seven days for further observation, in accordance with the Mental Healthcare Act.”
It was established that not only had she never given birth but she was never pregnant, Masebe said.
“The Gauteng provincial government will continue to give medical, psychological and social support to Ms Sithole and provide any counselling she might require,” he added.
Rampedi and his newspaper initially stood by their story, slating the government and Steve Biko for negligence.
“She was given no food, no support, no post-natal medical care, and no counselling after an unprecedented birth. Any birth can be difficult, but that of delivering 10 babies is exceptional and should have been suitably prepared for,” Independent Media charged in a statement on June 16.
“Worse still, Ms Sithole was pressured by hospital authorities to say she was not at Steve Biko Hospital. Ms Sithole has suffered trauma and shock – physical and psychological – following her treatment at the hands of both hospital and government authorities.”
Independent Media further claimed that it had initiated a private investigation which corroborated its story, claiming that Sithole’s “babies” – seven boys and three girls – had been delivered by an inadequate team of four doctors and two nurses.
Staff had been threatened not to reveal anything about the “births”, the newspaper insisted, and Steve Biko Hospital was “wholly unprepared for this unprecedented birth.”
On Tuesday this week, Rampedi backpedalled furiously in a letter to his colleagues.
“Even though I stand by the fact that Sithole was pregnant, some aspects of the story could have been dealt with differently,” he wrote. “Could I have handled the story much better? Definitely! Especially the verification process… For me, it was a story of celebration hence I never demanded documentary proof of the pregnancy, such as scans and clinic cards, for instance, as I would normally do with an investigative story. There was nothing to investigate, I thought.”
Rampedi railed against what he described as “detractors”, adding: “I’m sorry for the reputational damage the aftermath of the story has caused for the group, the company and my colleagues in general. I’m fully aware that the story, and the general response, put all my colleagues in an awkward position and under immense public pressure.”
Malian woman Halima Cisse, 25, holds the record for most living births at once after giving birth to five girls and four boys in Morocco last month.
