Even though no one still believes a word Gosiame Sithole says – many now doubt her sanity, the Gauteng Department of Health on Friday felt compelled to deny the existence of the much-publicised decuplets.
Sithole is the 37-year-old Tembisa woman, who claimed she gave birth to 10 babies – seven boys and three girls.
The department said: “There were no decuplets in the Steve Biko Academic Hospital.”
The alleged father of the decuplets Tebogo Tsotetsi, has since asked well-wishers to stop all donations.
Earlier this week Tsotetsi’s family said it had “resolved and concluded that there are no decuplets born between Tebogo Tsotetsi and Gosiame Sithole.”
Medical tests have reportedly indicated that Sithole did not give birth to any child in the last two weeks contrary to her made-up story.
“There was no way that Tshwane District Hospital, that is not even capacitated to deliver twins can deliver 10 babies,” said the department.
The unbelievable tale has since morphed into a conspiracy, which has tarnished the hospital named after liberation icon Steve Biko.
Bothered by the claims of a cover up, the department said it noted: “with dismay and great disappointment, allegations made by Independent Media against the Steve Biko Academic Hospital, which is one of our best hospitals in the country”.
The department said the alleged “cover-up of mammoth proportions” by health authorities “seems to be a journalistic error”.
Agreeing with discerning readers of TheBulrushes, the department said: “It cannot be that 10 or eight babies are born and that no evidence of their whereabouts or existence can be established”.
Even though the fable has been roundly rejected as fake by all right-thinking readers, the Pretoria News and IOL refuse to let go.
South African National Editors’ Forum this week said: “The failure of (Piet) Rampedi and Independent Media to do basic fact-checking and verify grandiose statements before publication has undermined and damaged the entire journalistic profession.”
This at a time South Africa is in the throes of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. The latest daily count recorded more than 11 000 new Covid-19 cases.
Instead of being distracted by fake news, the department urged: “All South Africans to allow the health professionals to focus on the task at hand of fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in Gauteng where there is severe pressure”.
