Zimbabwean forced to give birth standing up was told the baby was stillborn

Civil rights movement #NotInMyName on Wednesday said the Zimbabwean woman who was forced to give birth standing up was allegedly told by medical staff at Mamelodi Hospital that the baby was stillborn.

The movement's Themba Masango told TimesLIVE they had met the family this week to offer their support.

Zimbabwean Theresa Ngwendu, 30, , was rushed to the hospital a week ago as she was about to go into labour.

She told Sowetan that a nurse at the hospital refused to help her and told her “this is not Zimbabwe”.

Ngwendu said her water broke inside the maternity ward and her baby fell head first on to the hospital floor. The baby was declared dead.

“We have engaged the hospital management and agreed that an independent investigation needed to be done because the hospital cannot investigate and defend itself at the same time,” Masango said.

“The hospital also said that the baby was born dead, so a proper investigation needs to be done there. We are waiting for the postmortem to confirm that.”

Masango said an inquest docket was opened at the Mamelodi police station on Monday.

He said the child was buried on Tuesday.

Hospital CEO Dr Terrence Makhudu previously said they viewed the allegations in a serious light and were investigating.

The Gauteng department of health said they had appointed a clinical specialist, obstetrician and gynaecologist to investigate the incident.