‘Halt gifts until mom of 10 returns’
TEBOHO Tsotetsi, the decuplets father whose wife Gosiame Sithole has failed to disclose her whereabouts and the condition of their babies, has called on members of the public to stop donating money into both their bank accounts until she returns home.
In a police statement on Saturday – in support of a missing person inquiry – Tsotetsi told the police he was concerned about Sithole’s whereabouts and her safety since she told him he was not allowed to see his decuplets due to Covid-19 regulations.
Speaking to the Pretoria News after submitting the statement, Tsotetsi urged members of the public not to deposit money into his and Sithole’s accounts until his wife and children were back home.
Tsotetsi added in a WhatsApp message that Sithole had left him with her twins – who are living at his mother’s home in Tembisa Township, Ekurhuleni – and who were equally concerned about her whereabouts and safety.
On Monday last week, Tsotetsi told the Pretoria News that Sithole had given birth to 10 babies at a private hospital in Pretoria on Monday night.
At the time, Tsotetsi said his wife had told him she had delivered the decuplets – seven boys and three girls – 29 weeks into her pregnancy. However, doctors and nurses said no visitors were allowed, he added.
Tsotetsi said he had seen the heavily
pregnant Sithole for the last time on Sunday night when he accompanied her to Esangweni Clinic in Tembisa after she complained about labour pains.
Almost a week after Sithole repeatedly failed to tell him where she was, Tsotetsi said he gave the police a statement in support of their inquiry on Saturday.
The inquiry came after Tsotetsi’s family members opened a missing person case at Tembisa South police station on Thursday. Tsotetsi said he had received a WhatsApp message from Sithole shortly after midnight on Monday. This was after she told him earlier that she was at Mediclinic Medforum Hospital and that her operation was scheduled for between 6pm and 8pm that night.
“On 8 June at 00:02am, I received a WhatsApp message from my girlfriend: Gosiame Thamara Sithole, informing me that she has given birth to 10 babies. At 00:30am, she informed me they were at the Medforum Hospital. She then informed me that no physical visits are allowed at the hospital.
“I subsequently insisted that as a father I would like to come to the hospital to see our newly born children,” read Tsotetsi’s statement.
He said that on Friday, Sithole informed him that at her request Mediclinic Medforum Hospital had moved her to the lodge facilities of the Steve Biko Academic Hospital a day earlier. “Having requested her to forward me the physical address of the lodge, she forwarded the location as being Tshwane District Hospital, Dr Savage Road, Pretoria. On Friday, June 11, at 16:24, out of concern for their whereabouts, I sent her a WhatsApp message reading: ‘Hi baby, like I said, I went to seek the lawyer’s help for being harassed by the police. They say they are investigating a case of a missing person because your whereabouts are unknown.
I am currently with her, and have explained to her that I don’t know where you and the babies are, but that I had an arrangement to meet today but couldn’t because we had to see the lawyer for our safety.
“She has advised me that I should not go and see you as I had been tracked by the police, and if they get hold of me I will be arrested as I am a suspect now because I am the last person to see you. I really needed to see you but my priority is our safety.
“Please forward me your picture and the pictures of our babies. At 17:03, she sent me the following location of her whereabouts: Tshwane District Hospital, Dr Savage Road, Pretoria”.
He added: “I confirm that since she informed me that she delivered 10 babies at the Med Forum hospital I made several attempts to pay them a visit at the hospital to no avail. I reiterate that she told me that no visitors are allowed and as a result I could not go to the Medforum Hospital and/or the Steve Biko Lodge facilities.
“Accordingly, I do not know Gosiame Thamara Sithole’s whereabouts and have not seen her since she left home on Sunday, June 7. I have been requesting her for full particulars of the hospital where she’s admitted together with the photographs of the babies.
She has since forwarded me a picture of a child which she claims is one of the babies.”
Tsotetsi shared WhatsApp messages of his communication with Sithole since Sunday last week. In one of the messages sent to Tsotetsi at 02:39 on Monday last week, Sithole said a Mediclinic Medforum Hospital medical team of “4 doctors and 2 gynecologist (sic) and 5 nurses” were involved in her delivery. Sithole said she gave birth 29 weeks into her pregnancy”.
Sithole further told Tsotetsi in another message that she had yet to see her babies because the doctors and nurses told her no visitors were allowed. Attempts to reach Mediclinic Medforum general manager Johan Verwey proved unsuccessful.