Piet Rampedi claims public protector's Thembisa 10 report is 'deeply flawed'

Independent Media’s Piet Rampedi claims the acting public protector’s (PP) report, which says there is no evidence to support claims Gosiame Sithole (Moliehi Maria Sithole) gave birth to 10 children on June 7 2021, is “deeply flawed”.

The Pretoria News editor, who broke the story on the Thembisa decuplets on their front page that year, said in a statement on Thursday that the acting PP’s report had shortcomings. 

“Firstly, the acting public protector concluded the ‘investigation’ without engaging the central parties or asking for any specific information from myself or my employers, Independent Media. Surprisingly, Adv [Kholeka] Gcaleka did not bother to contact me for any information as an interested party in the case,” he said.

Rampedi claimed the story was “based on months of engagements and work, first-hand accounts of various sources close to Ms Sithole”, including friends and relatives, who had “no reason to mislead” him. 

On New Year’s Eve, Gcaleka released a detailed 57-page report after a complaint by Teboho Tsotetsi, who was said to be the father of the decuplets dubbed the “Thembisa 10”. 

Over and above the dismissal of reports that the children were birthed by Sithole, Gcaleka further found no evidence that the mother was barred from seeing her babies, kept for mental observation against her will or that her privacy was violated by the Gauteng health department, social workers, the Ekurhuleni municipality or the police.   

“The allegation that Ms Sithole gave birth to decuplets on June 7 2021 at Steve Biko Hospital and that she was refused access to her babies is unsubstantiated.

“Evidence at the disposal of the public protector, namely the clinical obstetrician and gynaecology report from Thembisa Hospital, indicates Ms Sithole did not give birth and was not pregnant in recent times,” her report says.

It says further evidence in the form of the nominal admission register and the medico-legal report of Steve Biko Hospital revealed that Sithole was never admitted there during 2021.

“The Steve Biko Hospital only has Ms Sithole’s medical records of 2014 during the delivery of her twins,” the acting public protector said.

There were inconsistencies in Sithole’s evidence, Gcaleka added.

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