The South African decuplets saga continues to unravel after the family of the husband of the woman who allegedly gave birth to 10 babies disputed their existence and advised people not to donate to their their daughter in law.
Yesterday, the father of the so-called “Tembisa 10” made a dramatic announcement, saying that he does not believe his girlfriend, Gosiame Sithole, had ever given birth to 10 babies.
A statement released by his family said he is yet to see the decuplets, and had only ever relied on Sithole to inform him of their births.
There have been doubts over the legitimacy of the story, after the Pretoria News published a story last week claiming that a mother from Pretoria had broken a world record, having given birth to 10 children.
Government departments, hospitals and social workers have all refuted the story in the past week. A missing persons case was opened in connection with the mother’s whereabouts.
The family laid out the story in its statement:
– We recognise and appreciate the support given by Piet Rampedi during the pregnancy from late last year
– Tebogo Tsotetsi informed Pretoria News and Piet Rampedi of the decuplets based on the information he received from his girlfriend
– The family never claimed to have seen the decuplets and relied on the call and whatsapp confirmation from the girlfriend
– The family lost contact with Gosiame Sithole and with her phone off they opened a case of a missing person
– Notes failed attempts to visit and see the mother and decuplets The matter remains very sensitive and worrying, especially with Gosiame Sithole’s whereabouts unknown and we call on members of the public to stop donating money into any bank accounts for the decuplets.
The statement said:
“We appreciate the public interests and support for the decuplets, and with no proof of their existence we firmly believe it’s in the interests of everyone to conclude that they do not exist, until proven otherwise. We will now shift our attention to finding Gosiame Sithole whilst praying for her safe return.”
