The mother of SA's so-called “Thembisa 10" babies, Gosiame Sithole, has not given birth and was not pregnant “in recent times”.
This is according to the Gauteng government in a statement released on Wednesday afternoon. The findings, it said, came after Sithole was taken in for observation at Tembisa Hospital.
Spokesperson Thabo Masebe said an investigation was done after an initial report in the Pretoria News, which claimed that the babies had been born in a Pretoria hospital.
Independent Media, which publishes the Pretoria News, had stood by its story, and accused government officials of a “cover up” when they questioned the veracity of the report. Pretoria News editor Piet Rampedi, who wrote the story, has since apologised to colleagues for it.