Tembisa 10: Journalist Piet Rampedi Sticks to His Story, Says Public Protector “Got It Completely Wrong”

• Journalist Piet Rampedi has rubbished the Acting Public Protector advocate Kholeka Gcaleka’s report on the Tembisa 10
• The report found that there was no evidence to support Gosiame Sithole’s claims that she had given birth to 10 babies
• Rampedi said that he still stands by the story and that the report was a tool to legitimise the government's previous denials

GAUTENG - Despite the Acting Public Protector advocate Kholeka Gcaleka’s report labelling the Tembisa 10 story a ruse, journalist Piet Rampedi has stood by his initial claims.

The report found that there was no evidence to support Gosiame Sithole’s claims that she had given birth to 10 babies in June 2021. However, Rampedi believes that the report was deeply flawed.

In a statement released on Thursday, 5 January, the journalist said that the acting PP failed to contact him or his employer for information related to the Tembisa 10 saga. He said that he still stands by the story and that report was a tool to legitimise the government's previous denials.

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“The report looks like a further attempt to exonerate several role players, including officials, politicians and medical practitioners who were revealed to have made a number of errors pre-and post-delivery by Sithole,” said Rampedi.

The journalist added that Gcaleka “got it completely wrong”. However, the acting PP had reviewed affidavits, letters and reports from the Gauteng provincial government officials and other units involved in the saga.

According to The Citizen, Gcaleka found that Sithole was neither pregnant nor did she give birth to the 10 babies at the time. The acting PP said the matter relating to the Tembisa 10 should be considered finalised.

Mzansi calls out Rampedi over Tembisa 10 saga:

@S11E11B11A said:

“Let it go please lol.”

@EdwardthembaSa commented:

“Forget about the acting Public Protector’s Findings and statements. Where are the children?”

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@ladopegp wrote:

"Piet just show the country a picture of those babies or a scan of the foetus during the pregnancy since you know more than everybody. Lies have short legs by the way."

Tembisa 10: Public protector concludes that Gosiame Sithole never gave birth to decuplets in 57-page report

Briefly News also reported that the acting public protector has released a statement following a thorough investigation into the Tembisa 10 matter.

The probe concluded that there was no tangible evidence to support the claims that Gosiame Sithole gave birth to ten babies at Steve Biko Hospital on 7 June 2021.

TimesLIVE reports that the public protector also concluded that there is proof that Sithole was barred from seeing her children after giving birth and she was kept for mental observation against her will.

Source: Briefly News