Undelivered is a hard-hitting, character-driven investigative narrative following a group of South African mothers who uncovered a pattern of medical abuse at the hands of a celebrated midwife and the investigative journalist who never stopped telling their story.
It started with one mom who asked too many questions. Then another, and another. More and more babies turned up either injured or dead. And all the evidence pointed to one midwife. Separately, they were grieving moms, lost in the system, but together they became a collective that the system couldn’t ignore.
Through deeply personal testimonies and a first-hand investigation, the book exposes how one midwife allegedly drugged her patients without their consent, ignored the warning signs, and refused to transfer them to hospital when their babies were clearly in distress. It also exposes the system that failed every single one of these babies and allowed the midwife to thrive from province to province.
Told through the voices of the mothers, the narrative moves from grief and isolation to unity and justice. As the women begin to connect the dots, they form an unlikely alliance, one that ultimately pushes the case into the public eye and towards criminal accountability. This is a story about loss, but more importantly, it is a story about refusing to stay silent.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tarryn Crossman is a documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist from South Africa. For over a decade and a half, she has been following stories long after the cameras leave, sitting with people in the aftermath and documenting what happens when systems meant to protect, fail. Her work lives in that uncomfortable space between truth and accountability, where real lives are at stake.
She has produced films for Carte Blanche, Al Jazeera and MTV Staying Alive, and through TIA Productions works with organisations like Meta, UNICEF, USAID and Save the Children to tell stories that don’t just inform, but force change.
Her investigation into Yolande Maritz-Fouché began in 2019 and unfolded over several years, helping bring national attention to the case and contributing to legal action. The work was recognised at the Taco Kuiper Awards. Undelivered is her first book.
‘Undelivered: The case of the rogue midwife and the mothers who stopped her’ is published by Penguin Random House South Africa
