Cape Town – A Gauteng TikTok user known as Dr Matthew Lani is reportedly facing legal trouble after the provincial health department and a real doctor filed criminal cases against him for impersonating a medical professional.
According to News24, Lani, who provides medical advice on TikTok, claims to be a graduate of Wits Medical School and South Africa’s youngest doctor with a pharmaceutical company.
He allegedly pretended to work at Helen Joseph Hospital and used the identity of a second-year medical intern, Dr Sanele Sobani Vambani Zingelwa.
The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) expressed concern about Lani’s actions, saying that he is not registered as a health practitioner, and practicing without registration is a criminal offence.
The HPCSA said that no authorisation was given for statements to be made on its behalf.
The University of the Witwatersrand also distanced itself from Lani, noting that they could not find any recent graduate by the name he claimed to have used.
Lani defended himself by saying that “Lani” is not his legal surname but a social media handle, and his legal name is Sanele Zingelwa.
It, however, turned out that this was actually the name of a second-year medical intern at Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital, EWN reported.
Furthermore, the department also opened a case of impersonating a medical doctor against him with the Brixton police, the report said.
Spokesperson Motalatale Modiba: “The opening of a criminal case against Lani is in line with Health Professions Act, Act No. 56 of 1974 as amended, which states that practicing whilst not registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa is a criminal offence and that any person who uses any name, title, description or symbol indicating, or calculated to lead persons to infer that he or she is the holder of any qualification of which they are not shall be guilty of an offence.”
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Picture: X/@AdvoBarryRoux
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
Compiled by Betha Madhomu
