The world went into a frenzy on Tuesday, 8 June when news of a woman giving birth to decuplets made news headlines. South Africans beamed with pride when we heard a woman from Tembisa delivered 10 babies at a Pretoria hospital.
As the day progressed, reporters from all corners of the world clambered to trace the origin of the story and find the woman who naturally conceived 10 babies. If true, she will go down in the Guinness World Book of Records for having the most numbers of babies at one time. The current title holder is Malian Halima Cissé who recently had nine babies at a Moroccan hospital.
The decuplets story, an exclusive, written by IOL said Gosiame Thamara Sithole aged 37 had successfully delivered seven boys and three girls via Caesarean section. Her husband, Teboho Tsotetsi, told IOL he was unemployed and overwhelmed when he found out about the pregnancy.
“I could not believe it. I felt like one of God’s chosen children. I felt blessed to be given these kinds of blessings when many people out there need children. It’s a miracle which I appreciate. I had to go do my own research on whether a person could really conceive eight children. It was a new thing. I knew about twins, triplets and even quadruplets,” Tsotetsi told IOL.
Several companies, including Lucky Star and Pick n Pay have tried to get a hold of the family to present them with vouchers and offers to assist with the newborns – but no one has been able to find where the decuplets were born. The story states they were born at a hospital in Pretoria, but there are no records so far.
Even Director General of GCSI, Phumla Williams, asked for assistance on Twitter to help trace the family – because Government is struggling to find them.
Aside from IOL, no other news agency has been able to trace the hospital or family. And Twitter is looking high and low for answers – with some questioning whether it was an April Fool’s joke in June.
Until the birth has been verified by the hospital and doctors, it is safe to say we don’t know how true or false this story is.
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