[imagesource: Thobile Mathonsi / African News Agency]

Gosiame Sithole.

IOL,  Iqbal Survé, and Piet Rampedi.

A Guinness World Record 10 babies, in a story that came to be known as the Tembisa 10.

The tale of the decuplets gripped the nation and was reported on by media outlets across the globe.

And then, under scrutiny, the wheels came off in spectacular fashion, as Rampedi’s story unravelled and he was left to look the fool.

In July, respected veteran anti-apartheid lawyer, advocate, and acting judge, Michael Donen SC, was appointed to investigate Rampedi’s reporting on the Tembisa 10.

He was appointed by Independent Online, as part of an independently led inquiry into exactly what went wrong. The media group also stated that it would publicly release all findings and recommendations from that investigation, as well as the findings of an investigation by the company’s own Press Ombud.

We are just one day from liftoff on that front, and according to an IOL report from last night, we are in for a bombshell or two.

Fine, we’ll bite:

On Wednesday this week, Independent Media will release the findings of the highly anticipated investigations into what really happened with the ‘decuplets’ and their story.

Image: Thobile Mathonsi / African News Agency

Independent Media’s reputation has taken a beating over this story. There’s no denying this. But, as it has done for over a century of integrity and breaking stories, when it is wrong, it admits and makes reparation.

I would like to intervene at this point and say ‘nope, bollocks’.

You only need to look at the fawning and incessant coverage of Survé to toss that claim out the window.

Back to these investigations:

However, in order to determine the truth, and therefore whether reparation is required, investigations are needed. In this case, there have been several concurrent fact finding missions – internally by the editor, the office of Independent Media’s Press Ombudsman, Independent Media’s investigation division, and an independent external investigation, chaired by Advocate Michael Donen.

What they have discovered is nothing short of explosive.

Here’s the bottom line.

If they have uncovered something explosive, the nation is all ears.

If this is just another ploy from IOL to cover its tracks and avoid taking responsibility for what was clearly a massive own goal, it’s another opportunity to stick the boot in.

Nando’s definitely provoked the ire of Rampedi and his acolytes with that advert a while back. I’m not sure the company will be rushing to make another, given its current Gareth Cliff PR nightmare, so maybe there’s an opportunity for someone else to step up.

Apparently, “all shall be revealed” tomorrow during a press conference at Newspaper House in Cape Town, which has been titled “In Search of the Truth – Explosive Evidence of Wrongdoing to be Revealed in Decuplets Report”.

And now we wait.

[source:iol]