South African woman's story claiming she gave birth to 10 kids was fake

A South African Woman

Gosiame Sithole

story where she claimed she gave birth to 10 kids earlier this month turned out to be fake.


An official inquiry found the story fake, there was no such record like that in any hospital in Gauteng province.

The medical test proved that 37-year-old Sithole had not been even pregnant. She is now held under the

Mental

act for observation and is provided with support.

The story went viral after Independent Online (

IOL

), the media group which owns the

Pretoria

News reported on June 8. The story took the internet by storm, and it led to various donations for Gosiame Sithole, her partner Teboho Tsotetsi and their reported babies.

It was reported that Sithole delivered the children on 7 June at Steve Biko Academic Hospital (SBAH) in the capital, Pretoria. "These allegations are false, unsubstantiated and only serve to tarnish the good reputation of Steve Biko Academic Hospital and the Gauteng Provincial Government," the latest statement by the hospital said according to

BBC

.

Sithole made into various international headlines by creating false information about her delivering 10 babies, 7 boys and 3 girls.

The origin of the story

According to BBC, Sithole, her partner Teboho Tsotetsi lived in Thembisa, a township with many working-class residents in Gauteng province near

Johannesburg

.

According to IOL, The couple were introduced in December and Rampedi interviewed the couple in May, during the interview, they mentioned having eight babies and in the photoshoot show, Sithole was looking heavily pregnant.

Tsotetsi according to the source, later said he had received text messages from his partner telling him about the news, adding he was not allowed at the hospital because of coronavirus restrictions.

The local mayor too confirmed the births initially but a government spokesperson clarified that they went by the family’s words and have not seen the babies themselves.

According to a report in the Pretoria News, after the confirmation of story being fake Tsotetsi reported her being missing and asked people to stop donations a week later, while Sithole accused him of wanting to benefit financially from the babies.

Later, social workers managed to track her down and after that, she was admitted to the hospital for tests.