Piet Rampedi (Twitter)
The story of the so-called Tembisa Decuplets has been shortlisted for a Global Media Award, despite the fact that it was all a hoax.
This story, first published by Independent Media’s Pretoria News last year is entered under the category, “Best Use of Social Media” in the International News Media Awards (INMA).
The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) said it was appaled by the news and has written to the INMA to express its concern.
In response, the INMA said they were “judging the quality of the social media campaign – not the story itself”.
They further stated that they were unable to reverse their jury's decision.
This story was written by award-winning journalist Piet Rampedi and duped millions of South Africans and people across the globe.
SANEF says this nomination legitimises a campaign borne out of a story that has been proven not only to be ludicrous but also an embarrassment to South African journalism
The winners will be announced in June.
