Twins’ mother losing hope in getting justice

Devastated: Nompumelelo Sibiya

Devastated: Nompumelelo Sibiya

Published Mar 14, 2018

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A Mpumalanga woman who is convinced that her twins are still alive said she has lost hope in trying to get justice.

Holding back her tears, Nompumelelo Sibiya, said she had sought legal advice on the matter and found two lawyers.

However, they were both playing tricks on her, she said.

“The first one said he had done investigations and when he approached the hospital, they told him that he should tell me that they would give me money and I should not go to the media,” she said.

He said he found another lawyer and paid him R3 000.

“He said he had managed to do an investigation and found my clinic and hospital files. He said when he went to the hospital, he was told they would give me money for funeral costs. I then asked him which funeral because there is nothing I buried but he could not respond,” she said.

She said she called the lawyer in December last year but he told her to wait for another hospital file.

“I have lost faith in these lawyers. Every time I call him he says he is busy and he postpones our meetings all the time,” she said.

Sibiya said she got no assistance when she delivered her twins at Mamelodi Hospital after nurses left her alone while she was in labour in 2016. This was after they had verbally abused her, she said.

The 28-year-old woman said nurses later arrived but refused to put her premature twins in the incubator. She said the twins were breathing when the nurses took them but was informed some time later that they were dead.

She was never given an opportunity to see the bodies and was later informed they would be burnt.

To this day, she believes that her children are still alive and has been trying to get help.

A source close to Sibiya’s second lawyer said they had interacted with her but the problem was lack of official documentation that would enable them resolve the case.

He said when she went to them, she only wanted the remains of her twins.

“I recall enquiring with the hospital to provide a death certificate and documentation of the cause of death,” said the source.

While Sibiya claims to have paid R3 000, the source said he had no recollection of that.

The source also confirmed the attorneys struggled to get information and documentation from the hospital to verify the death of the children, claiming that the matter was tricky.

He said they could not determine whether Sibiya had a miscarriage or that the hospital should be sued for medical negligence.

“What we were still trying to find out is what really happened, whether it was a miscarriage and if it was a miscarriage what happened to the foetus,” said the source.

Teddy Bear Foundation Clinical Director Shaheda Omar said it would be important for Sibiya to receive professional assistance following her ordeal. “The shocking experience surrounding the news is devastating for any mother to be informed that her babies have passed on.”

Omar added that it was surprising Sibiya did not receive relevant support following the fact and offered the Teddy Bear foundation therapy services to both Sibiya and her family.

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