[imagesource: Thobile Mathonsi / African News Agency]

There was a moment, as the doubts over the authenticity of the Tembisa 10 births really gathered steam, where Piet Rampedi, Iqbal Survé, and Independent Media could have taken a step back and said ‘hang on, we may have made a blunder here’.

I would say that moment was about a week ago, but IOL chose to do down a different route.

Instead, the once again disgraced media outlet published a story headlined ‘Independent Media demands health department come clean about Tembisa decuplets, stands by Piet Rampedi‘.

In that article, it was boldly claimed that “the Tembisa 10 story is not fake news but a cover-up of mammoth proportions by Gauteng Health authorities”.

The wheels really began to come off when it was established that Gosiame Thamara Sithole had been taken in for psychological evaluation, against her wishes.

And so, here we are, just over a week later, and the Gauteng government is now planning to sue Rampedi and Independent Media.

News24 reports:

“We want them to retract the unfortunate allegations made against the government,” spokesperson Thabo Masebe told News24.

“They alleged that there was a cover-up by the provincial government involving the premier, the MEC and the chief executive of Steve Biko [Academic Hospital],” said Masebe.

“We are demanding that they retract their statement and apologise.”

Because Independent Media doesn’t belong to the Press Council, where complaints could otherwise be directed, Masebe says the Gauteng provincial government has instructed the State Attorney to institute legal action against Rampedi and the media company.

Here’s the full statement:

#Decuplets

JUST IN:

Gauteng to take legal action against Independent Group & Piet Rampedi over the 10 babies story.

It says after the woman was admitted for medical tests after the story broke, it found she ‘did not give birth to any babies in recent times.’#SABCNEWS pic.twitter.com/ZrKyKVIzTT

— Chriselda ‘Babes We Ndaba’ Lewis (@Chriseldalewis) June 23, 2021

At this stage, I would like to throw this Survé tweet from a mere five days ago into the mix.

Chris, you and your media friends are complicit in hiding the abuse of this mother by the state.I hope the mother institutes criminal charges and sues for damages against all of you. Pin this tweet.

— IQBAL SURVÉ (@IqbalSurve) June 19, 2021

Tweet pinned, sir.

Priceless.

Let’s get to the real kicker – that bit about not having given birth at all:

Sithole was admitted to Tembisa Hospital on 18 June 2021, and various medical tests were conducted on her to determine her state of health.

Medical practitioners then established she had never been pregnant.

“It has now been established by medical practitioners that Ms Sithole did not give birth to any babies in recent times. It has also been established that she was not pregnant in recent times,” Masebe said.

In other words, they’re saying not one, not three, not eight, and certainly not 10 babies.

According to the Gauteng provincial government, she wasn’t pregnant at all.

I’d like this photo explained, please:

Another angle, also warranting an explanation:

Balloons? One of those exercise balls?

I mean, did Rampedi not dig any deeper than looking at the bulging belly?

Let’s revisit that half-arsed apology he issued to Independent Media staff earlier in the week:

“Even though I stand by the fact that Sithole was pregnant, some aspects of the story could have been dealt with differently. Could I have handled the story much better? Definitely! Especially the verification process. Quite honestly, I never treated the decuplets story as an investigation at all. I used no investigative tool or checklist.”

“They had no reason to lie to me about the pregnancy. For me, it was a story of celebration. Hence, I never demanded documentary proof of the pregnancy, such as scanners and clinic cards, for instance, as I would normally do with an investigative story. There was nothing to investigate, I thought.”

That’s not how breaking a story screaming the words ‘Guinness World Record’ works, Piet.

Masebe says the Gauteng provincial government will “continue to give medical, psychological and social support to Ms Sithole and provide any counselling she might require.”

Sithole’s lawyer, Refiloe Mokoena, who was very outspoken last week about filing an urgent court application for her client’s release from Tembisa Hospital, said the application was never actually filed.

All of a sudden, Rampedi, who had been very outspoken and full of bluster on Twitter, has gone quiet on the matter.

His last tweet related to the story came two days ago:

Khaya, they know I have said it categorically that Gosiame was pregnant, and that she gave birth. The babies do exist. How many times must I say it?

— Mr Putin (@pietrampedi) June 22, 2021

Sorry, you were saying?

[source:news24]