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Tembisa 10

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The "Tembisa 10" was a South African journalistic hoax that claimed the births of 10 babies in a single pregnancy by a 37-year-old Gauteng woman named Gosiame Thamara Sithole. It was published by the Pretoria News on 8 June 2021 and attracted a lot of media attentions with its claim of the births breaking the Guinness World Record.[1][2] The babies were found to be non-existent afterwards by officials[3][4] and the article declared a 'hoax'[5]

Tembisa 10
AuthorPiet Rampedi
SubjectA 37-year-old woman from Tembisa gives birth to 10 babies in one pregnancy
PublisherPretoria News
Publication date
  • 8 June 2021
Publication placeSouth Africa
Media typeNewspaper article

The article was seen as a journalistic gaffe by the South African general public and as a "phantom illegal scam-piece not worthy of publication" by senior journalists; and that Rampedi as an editor of the Pretoria News was "reckless" in writing and publishing the story.[6] He was ordered to apologise by an internal Independent Media panelist of experts probing the public backlash and berated for eroding the public's trust in the media.[7]

Since its publication on 8 June 2021, Rampedi and Independent Media owner Iqbal Survé publicly maintained and defended the truth of the story. The owner falsely stated at a Cape Town press briefing in October 2021 that the babies had now disappeared after being trafficked by a syndicate of politicians, government leaders and hospital officials; and promised to do further investigations and published a 10-series investigative documentary showing how.[8]

In December 2022, Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka found the story to be false.[9]

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