How Much Is A Taxi From Johannesburg To Tembisa

[Shameka Roessler]

Duringthe 1980s, as you walked in the sitting rooms of most four-roomed apartheid government houses in the townships, what caught one's attention was a picture of beautiful twins adorned in pink beanies. Almost every house in the townships had this picture hung on the wall. Nearly all street vendors in the townships, taxi ranks, and railway stations sold this popular picture.

The picture of a soft news piece of the first recorded Siamese twins in South Africa, Mpho le Mphonyana Mathibela (Mpho and Mphonyana). The famous twins were born conjoined at the head on 7 December 1986 at Tshepong Hospital in Klerksdorp, North West province. They were later transferred to Baragwanath Hospital, known as Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto for the separation of heads. The excellent separation of their heads by a 40-member medical team made headlines. It also put the Chris Hani Hospital in the spotlight. As it is a norm for South Africans to celebrate in song, top musicians in the country expressed their love for the twins through a song titled 'Mpho le Mphonyana'. It brought joy to many homes, as South Africans were still fighting the ills of the apartheid system. Unfortunately, Mphonyana died a year after the operation and Mpho died at age 34 on 7 August 2021. Following the death of Mpho, the former North West Premier, Tebogo Mokgoro said the twin's successful operation "demonstrated medical excellence in the South African medical fraternity." Their birth, iconic picture, and song are still engraved in the hearts of many South Africans.

South Africans woke up to the joyous article about the birth of 10 "miraculous gifts" (decuplets), dubbed the 'Tembisa 10', but with no evidence of pictures and videos. The exclusive piece was published by Pretoria News. Unlike Mpho le Mphonyana, the only trending picture in national and international media was a heavily pregnant woman, Gosiame Sithole. There is also no specific evidence or information regarding the hospital where the decuplet was born or a team of doctors who played a critical role in saving their lives.

The 'Tembisa 10' brought the media and the Gauteng Department of Health into disrepute which resulted in a legal battle between the Gauteng Department of Health and Pretoria News for non-factual reporting. The matter was probed by the office of the Public Protector, on 31 December 2022, just a few hours before crossing over with the year changed to 2023. Times Live published the Acting Public Protector Adv Kholeka Gcaleka's findings on the 'Tembisa 10' saga. According to Times Live, the investigation showed no record of the birth of a decuplet at any of the hospitals in the Gauteng province.

This news chose one journalist, the editor-in-chief of Pretoria News Piet Rampedi. The birth of the alleged babies was played by ear. In his reportage, Rampedi was allegedly told by Sithole's boyfriend, Teboho Tsotetsi that he cannot come to the hospital because of Covid-19 restrictions. With Rampedi's story, there was no available eyewitness. Sources who should have probably been the first eyewitnesses are Sithole and Tsotetsi. Instead, Tsotetsi testified about the babies that he had not witnessed.

I am made to chew over the saga of the New York Times journalism intern of 2003, Jayson Blair. Blair became an ace reporter for best lead stories. But his editors were not aware that he relied on deceit, plagiarism, and fiction. Similarly to Rampedi who did not witness the existence of the decuplet, Blair had not visited places he wrote about. Blair's information in his stories was from stories written by other journalists (Kovach & Rosenstiel, 2014: 269).

The crucial thing that I have learned from veteran journalists is that certain stories cannot be published without photographs. This is pure because true events must be captured, in words and images. Readers need to read, feel and be there as well.

Let us take, for instance, Christmas Day and New Year's Day media coverage of newborn decuplet babies. Such soft news is not scandalous but brings joy to mothers, hospitals, and the country. The same applies to multiple births.

I am a mother and I am a lover of babies. But my journalism critical eye prevails over everything before penning anything down. This is known as the process of fact-checking or verification. I guess the Guinness World Record was the only publication that is in the same boat as myself.

Although international journalists published the story without fact-checking, Guinness World Records felt it was imperative to investigate. The publication understood the importance of answering these basic information-gathering questions. Journalism is not about what you feel in your heart but what is factual.

After gathering facts, the reporter will pen the story for the day. The story will be sent to the news editor for editing. If the news editor is satisfied with the news coverage, he or she will send it to the sub-editor for sub-editing. Sub-editors play a critical role in identifying factual errors that could lead the publication into lawsuits. The sub-editors will liaise with the reporter to verify facts. After sub-editing, the sub-editor sends the story to the proofreader for accuracy and to the editor for approval and signing off. To avoid any lawsuits, investigative stories will go through the editor and legal team for verification.

However, it is a different case with stories written by editors, and in this context, Rampedi. They are discussed at the management level and sent directly to sub-editors and proofreaders. Authors of Basic Journalism, Gwen Ansell, and Rehana Rossouw (2002: 173) state that "sub-editors are regarded as the gatekeepers on matters of press law; they are supposed to spot potential problems and change, hold or consult on stories that may carry a legal risk for a news organization." Although, the Tembisa 10 was "a feel-good story", the sub-editors of Pretoria News, were supposed to have noticed that there was something amiss about the alleged decuplet and pointed it out.

Kovach and Rosenstiel (2014: 97) quote a Greek correspondent's methodology report which explains Thucydides' method of coverage of the Peloponnesian War in the fifth century B.C., "About factual reporting of events ... I have made it a principle not to write down the first story that came my way, and not even to be guided by my general impressions; either I was present myself at the events which I have described or else heard of them from eyewitnesses whose reports I have checked with as much thoroughness as possible. Not that even so the truth was easy to discover: different eyewitnesses have different accounts of the same events, speaking out of partiality for one side or the other, or else from imperfect memories" (Smith, 1991: 35-39).

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