Piet Rampedi Resigns as Pretoria News Editor 1 Year After Tembisa10 Story: “10 Babies Dololo”

• Piet Rampedi is topping trending lists again with his resignation as the editor of Pretoria News
• The journalist rose to infamy after writing a story about a woman giving birth to decuplets that proved to be untrue
• South Africans are using the opportunity to take jabs at the Tembisa 10 creator, with many celebrating his departure

PRETORIA - Veteran journalist Piet Rampedi has officially resigned as the editor of Independent Media's publication, Pretoria News, much to the delight of many South Africans.

Rampedi's resignation comes a year after he had South Africans in a chokehold with a story about a Pretoria woman who allegedly gave birth to 10 babies.

The decuplets never materialised, causing a media frenzy both locally and internationally and thrusting Rampedi into the halls of fake news infamy.

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The story caused such a stir that Acting Public Protector Advocate Kholeka Gceleka conducted a full investigation into the saga. A 52-page report was released in December 2022, which poked holes in the story and revealed it was untrue, The Citizen reported.

In true South African fashion, citizens were quick to make jokes about the journalist's resignation, but one particular social media user found the jabs distasteful.

@Patricia_Bantom posted a tweet of the resignation announcement and slammed netizens for taking joy in Rampedi's departure from Pretoria News.

That didn't stop the jokes from rolling in as another social media user commented:

"Piet played himself, he deserves to be made fun of."

South Africans crack jokes about Piet Rampedi's resignation

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Social media lit up with people asking if South Africa will ever know the truth about the 10 babies.

Below are some comments:

@LoyisoJantjies laughed:

"Eish... I guess we will never get to see the #Tembisa10 now that the gentleman who brought us such important Breaking News has left."

@mosweu40 claimed:

"Resignation or not, we are still waiting for our decuplets."

@DR_CEO_ asked:

"Is he going to babysit the 10 babies full-time?"

allmightyzar joked:

"You can't make this stuff up. Except for Piet. He can make anything up."

@NdoyisileSekwat added:

"So we are in the dark for life about the 10 babies."

@thando243 questioned:

"So the story of the 10 babies dololo?"

@MaphutsiTshepo commented:

"10 babies destroyed the guy."

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

In another story, Briefly News reported that the acting public protector released a statement following a thorough investigation into the Tembisa 10 matter.

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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