Thipe also sought to qualify for her second Olympics in London. She finished fifth in the final of the 400 metres at the 2012 African Athletics Championships in Porto Novo, Benin; however, her time of 52.26 seconds was insufficient to secure her place at the Olympics. On October 16, 2012, Thipe was among the ten South African athletes who had failed the drug test for banned substances, including norandrosterone, from the African Championships. She blamed the national team's doctor for prescribing her a contraceptive pill called "Norlevo", which contains the banned substance, and slammed Athletics South Africa (ASA) for their failure to follow correct procedure by disclosing the results of her doping test to the media before convening a hearing in which she could defend herself.