Mother of the 'Thembisa 10' accuses dad's family of wanting riches through the babies

The mother of SA's alleged “Thembisa 10" decuplets, Gosiame Sithole, has accused the family of the children's dad of wanting to benefit financially from public donations after the birth.

Though she doesn't directly confirm that she gave birth to 10 children in videos shared by Pretoria News editor Piet Rampedi on Tuesday, Sithole regularly refers to “my babies”.

The Tsotetsi family released a statement on Tuesday night, saying: “There are no decuplets born between Tebogo Tsotetsi and Gosiame Sithole until proven otherwise.”

But Sithole, in response, said this was untrue, adding that her spirits were low as the family was not being fair to her.

“They are unfair because they are doing things and they are trying to hurt me. But I speak to Tsotetsi [the children's dad, Tebogo] now and then. I feel that they [the family] never loved me; I was just forced to be with him.

“What they are doing shows me that they wanted to ruin something with my babies. That is why they are crying so much for them. The children are mine and no-one else's. Why are they after me?

“They were looking at donations coming from people and being millionaires with my children. They were expecting to be rich; that's what they were expecting. That is why I have them where they are. No-one is going to force me to take my children ... I will do it on my own time,” she said.

In a series of interviews at an undisclosed location, Sithole is wearing a brown jacket with a doek on her head.

Sithole was adamant that she would not be forced to disclose the whereabouts of her children. She questioned whether the family was “sure” in their comments that the decuplets did not exist.

“Are they sure with what they are saying? I want to know if they are sure of what they are saying. I will do what I want, and on my own time and not on their time. I won’t do it for them, I will do it for my sake because they never loved me,” she said.

UPDATE JUNE 18: Social development minister Lindiwe Zulu said on Friday, June 18, that she is waiting for consolidated information before “going public” on the saga. Zulu told TimesLIVE she held a meeting with the provincial department of social development and the health department and “we have a few loose ends that needed to be sorted out” before briefing the public about what really happened. Both the Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) and the provincial health department have said they are unable to verify the births of the decuplets.

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