Gauteng Government takes legal action against Independent Media group

27 October 2021

The Gauteng Provincial Government notes a report released by the Independent Media group in which very serious allegations are made against medical practitioners, nursing staff and hospital management without any shred of evidence to substantiate such allegations.

In June this year, the Independent Media group published a story about a Gauteng woman having given birth to decuplets on 7 June 2021. At the time, the Gauteng Provincial Government conducted a thorough check with all hospitals in the province to establish the veracity or otherwise of the reports and found that none of the hospitals in the province, public and private, had any records of such births at their facilities.

Despite this, the Pretoria News insisted that the story of the decuplets was true and further stated that the babies were delivered at Steve Biko Academic Hospital. The newspaper published serious allegations that the government and the hospital management were trying to cover up medical negligence.

The woman claiming to have given birth to decuplets was admitted to Tembisa hospital on 18 June 2021, and various medical tests were conducted on her to determine her state of health. The doctors established that the woman did not give birth to any babies nor was she pregnant in recent times.

The provincial government cannot stand by while serious allegations are made against nurses, doctors, hospital management and health officials. These are women and men of integrity who are working selflessly and honestly every day to save lives and at times even risking their own lives. Government is duty bound to protect the integrity of all government officials as well as that of public institutions.

The provincial government has instructed the State Attorney to institute legal action against the Independent Media group. A senior counsel has been briefed and court papers will be served on the Independent Media in due course.

Issued by Vuyo Mhaga, Spokesperson for Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, 27 October 2021