Woman who claimed she gave birth to 10 babies wasn’t pregnant, under mental health observation

The South African woman who said she had given birth to 10 children was never pregnant in the first place, Gauteng Provincial Government officials said in a statement.

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No hospitals in the Gauteng province had any records of decuplets, 10 siblings, being born, BBC News reported.

Gosiame Sithole claims that she had recently birthed 10 babies but underwent medical tests that showed she was not recently pregnant, according to officials with the provincial government, BBC News reported.

You can read the government’s findings here.

Independent Online, the company that owns Pretoria News, had first reported that the woman had given birth, saying the babies were born at Steve Biko Academic Hospital on June 7.

Other news agencies confirmed with the province’s mayor about the babies’ birth, BBC News reported.

Times Live reported last week that the hospital said that neither the mother nor the alleged babies were admitted to the facility. The Times Live reported that Sithole said gave birth at a different hospital, Louis Pasteur Hospital, and that the babies were to be transferred to Steve Bilko Hospital.

A spokesperson for Louis Pasteur Hosptial told Times Live that Sithole was never a patient at the hospital and 10 babies were not born.

The government said it checked all local hospitals and none had any reports of 10 babies being birthed by the woman.

Independent Online continues to stand by its reports. Read the editor’s response, published June 24, here.

While there are reports that he apologized for the story, he said in an editorial that he didn’t apologize for the story itself, despite a report by News 24, but rather the steps he took in reporting it.

The Gauteng Provincial Government said it will give medical, psychological and social support to Sithole, including counseling.

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