UPDATE: Government can’t find woman, hospital where decuplets were born

A bizarre turn of events has seen the mother of 10 being untraceable by government.

In a statement on Tuesday, Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) director-general, Phumla Williams, said the government had been “unable to verify the authenticity of this birth at our facilities”.

“We need to verify this story and provide assistance where needed,” said Williams.

Even Lucky Star, the canned pilchards brand, weighed in and offered the woman year’s supply of pilchards.

Welcoming 10 babies has seen a South African woman break the Guinness World Record previously held by Malian national Halima Cissé who gave birth to nine children in Morocco last month.

According to Pretoria News, Gosiame Thamara Sithole, 37, gave birth to decuplets at a hospital in Pretoria last night.

Here’s what we know about the mom of 12.

• She has two other children, a set of six-year-old twins. That makes 12 children in total.
• Sithole is married. Her husband, Teboho Tsotetsi, is from Tembisa in Ekurhuleni
• She gave birth via C-section at 29 weeks (seven months and seven days)
• Sithole was not on any kind of fertility treatment.

• Seven boys and three girls make up her 10 babies
• She initially thought she was expecting six children (sextuplets)
• She later thought it was octuplets after a follow-up sonar scan
• She works as a retail store manager

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Twitter reacts to Gosiame Sithole’s 10 babies

Brand Hungry Lion jumped on board and offered to help feed the family with a 21-piece bucket of chicken.

Many were simply shocked at the number of children she welcomed and shared how they would react when put in her position. Others praised her strength for not only being able to carry that many babies for so long but for being able to survive the birth.

The Guinness World Records history of record-breaking births

Guinness’ most recent entry regarding the most children delivered at a single birth to survive, updated in April 2021 still lists US citizen Nadya Suleman as the record holder.

Suleman gave birth to six boys and two girls on 26 January 2009.

“The babies were conceived with the aid of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) treatment and were nine weeks premature when they were delivered by Caesarean section,” wrote Guinness.

Not only did the feat earned Suleman celebrity status, she also got the nickname “Octomom”, often used in the US media.

This story has been updated to reflect current developments.