In June 2021, Pretoria News reported that Gosiame Thamara Sithole, a 37-year-old South African woman, had given birth to seven boys and three girls in Pretoria.
The account attracted international attention as a possible world record. Yet the central claim did not withstand scrutiny.
Government officials could find no hospital or clinic record confirming the delivery, while the man identified as the babies’ father said he had never seen them in person.
According to provincial authorities, medical examinations established that Sithole had not recently been pregnant or given birth.
Officials rejected the report as false, and she was admitted to a hospital for a mental health evaluation.
What remained was not a historic delivery, but a cautionary tale about the distance between a compelling headline and verified evidence.
The claim of ten newborns was a hoax, not a documented medical achievement—and should not be shared as a true story.
