UPDATE: ‘Tembisa 10′ mystery deepens: Babies’ grandma speaks up

According to the Gauteng provincial government (GPG), there is still no proof that a Tembisa woman has given birth to decuplets (nicknamed the Tembisa 10).

According to Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina, however, the birth did happen.

On Wednesday afternoon, GPG said none of the hospitals in the province have any record of their birth.

“None of the hospitals in the province, public and private, have any records of such a delivery in their facilities,” said Gauteng provincial government spokesperson Thabo Masebe.

This after Masina initially confirmed that the Tembisa 10 had been found and later published a statement said to have been drafted by Gosiame Thamara Sithole and Teboho Tsotetsi’s family.

According to the family statement, the dectuplets were born on 07 June 2021 at 11am.

“We received a call from the hospital informing us of the birth. We called back the number and got further confirmation from the mother Gosiame Sithole who was still in pain,” read the statement.

It is still unclear which hospital this is in reference to.

Sithole and the Tembisa 10 are reportedly doing well and her mother-in-law, Mama Magaret Tsotsetsi is even quoted in the statement.

This back and forth between the mayor and provincial government, the secrecy with which the family has handled the supposed birth and the unanswered question of which hospital the babies were born at has created doubts about the existence of the decuplets.

“The Gauteng government conducted a thorough check with all hospitals in the province to establish the veracity or otherwise of the report,” added Masebe.

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Gauteng Social Development spokesperson Feziwe Ndwayana said that the MEC for social development Morakane Mosupyoe has made the arrangements to meet the family to congratulate the mother and hand over anything she may need to assist her with her babies.

She also, however, did not confirm the actual existence of the babies.

“For now we cannot confirm anything we have only made arrangements to meet with the family and we will take it from there,” said Ndwayana.

Attempts to call the family members in Masina’s statement proved unsuccessful as their phones were all off at the time of publishing.