The Department of Health in Gauteng is being sued for millions after somehow splitting up twin girls after their birth, swopping one of them with someone else’s baby, and sending one of them home with the wrong parents – 22 years ago.
Sibongile Makhoba had delivered fraternal twins at the Heidelberg Hospital outside Johannesburg, and named them Zandile and Zandi. In 2018, however, she discovered that one of the girls she had raised as her own was actually someone else’s child. And that her biological child was living somewhere in the province with parents she believed were hers.
News24 reports that the seeds of suspicion had been planted when her daughter Zandile told her that while she was at a netball game, some girls were adamant her name was Mbali.
At yet another game, a second group of girls also referred to her as Mbali.
Makhoba became worried, and with the assistance of her colleagues, did some research, taking to social media to find the girl she suspected was her daughter.
That’s when they found Mbali, the spitting image of Zandile. Around the same time, Makhoba’s cousin also bumped into Mbali, whose resemblance to Zandile startled her.
Based on these incidents, Makhoba decided to do DNA testing on the two girls. The 2019 test confirmed that she was the biological mother of Zandile, but certainly not Zandi’s mother.
She was devastated.
“After the DNA results, we underwent counselling for about six months and I started taking medication for depression. I contacted Mbali’s parents and asked if they would participate in the DNA testing, but they refused,” she said.
The Tshabalala family not only refused to entertain the suggestion that Mbali was not their child, but they were not prepared to meet Zandi either.
Makhoba said this was traumatising and heartbreaking for Zandi, “who was confronted with the fact that she was not my biological daughter and that she was the biological child of Mbali’s parents”.
“They rejected her and she consequently developed and experienced feelings of insecurity and despondency.”
Confronting the truth
Eventually, in 2020, the Tshabalalas agreed to take the DNA tests – and only then did they accept that Mbali and Zandi had been swopped at birth by the hospital.
Armed with this evidence, the distraught mother then approached the courts. According to papers lodged on 2 February 2021 in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria), Makhoba is demanding R10m from the Gauteng Health Department for negligence and trauma.
She wants R2m each for herself, Zandile, Zandi and Mbali, who still lives with them. She also wants an additional R2m for medical negligence and is adamant there is evidence of the birth mix-up. She is alleging gross negligence by the hospital staff leading to lifelong trauma for her and the children.
She argues that the hospital staff were to blame as they failed to execute their duties effectively, and because of this, Zandi has lost a home and a family she believed was hers for 22 years.
Shock and trauma
“We suffered emotional and psychological shock and trauma with psychiatric and psychological dysfunction and will continue to experience emotional and psychological trauma.
“The children received intermittent counselling, therapy, and medication to address the shock and emotional trauma they have suffered,” read her papers.
Makhoba argues that Mbali has suffered loss of support and maintenance from her biological parents due to the hospital’s dereliction of duties.
She has spent more than R4 000 per month on medical bills, mainly for therapy and mental health treatment.
Gauteng Health spokesperson Motalatale Modiba confirmed the department was aware of the lawsuit.
“It was in court on 19 November, and postponed to a later date. The court is to allocate a new date in due course.”
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