'We have no record of the 10 babies ... Unless they were born in the air,' says Gauteng government

The Gauteng government said on Wednesday it has “no record” of the 10 babies reported to have been born in Pretoria this week.

Thabo Masebe, spokesperson for the provincial government, told TimesLIVE at about 4pm on Wednesday: “We have no record of the 10 babies at any Gauteng hospital. Unless if they were born in the air, we checked both private and public hospitals and no-one knows about the case. Another question is, where are the obstetricians who delivered the babies and the paediatrician who is looking after them? No-one is coming forward.”

Masebe added that such cases are normally dealt with at private hospitals to “avoid legal complications”.

“It would be Charlotte Maxeke, Bara [Chris Hani Baragwanath], George Mukhari and Steve Biko ... they would know. Even Limpopo doesn’t know, we checked with the MEC,” he said.

Earlier, Gauteng's department of social development said they would only be able to confirm the reported birth of 10 babies to a Thembisa mother on Thursday.

Social development spokesperson Feziwe Ndwayana said on Wednesday that the department had not yet seen the mother or her babies.

“I can only make confirmations tomorrow, because our social workers will visit the mother tomorrow ... We have not physically seen the mother and her children but the mother is our client, she has been our client since 2016. She has had twins before, so since that time she has been our client,” she said.

Ndwayana said all the department had at the moment was a report.

The mother was identified as Gosiame Thamara Sithole, 37. In an interview at their family home in Thembisa last month — the publication of which was delayed at the request of the couple — Sithole said she was shocked and fascinated by the pregnancy, reported the Pretoria News.

Lerato Tsotetsi, who identified herself as a “family member”, tweeted that Sithole had given birth to seven boys and three girls prematurely at 29 weeks.

They were in a private hospital, she said: “As per the doctor’s request, since they are very little and in the neonatal intensive care unit, there won’t be pictures for now.”

TimesLIVE