TIKTOK influencer Dr Matthew Lani is back on social media, and he has returned with a new name.
He has created a new TikTok page which already has more than 17 000 followers and he’s still giving medical advice.
He’s also been addressing the claims made against him. In one video, he posted screenshots of emails he allegedly received from the Department of Health, Wits University and the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), apologising to him for the statements they released about him on Tuesday, 10 October.
But the Gauteng Department of Health has denied ever communicating with him.
“We've taken note of a fake message supposed to be a screenshot of a conversation with a representative of the department. This is meant to mislead the public into thinking the bogus doctor has been cleared by the GDoH. The matter will be handed to the police for further investigation,” they said in their response.
Wits University also cleared their name through their X page (previously known as Twitter) and said the email Matthew shared was fake.
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“Hi, please note that the attached letter is fake and fraudulent. The university will deal with it as a matter of urgency,” they said.
However, when Matthew spoke to Daily Sun about the charges against him, he still stood by the fact that he's a doctor. He also claimed that his legal name is Mpho, not Matthew.
“Mpho is the name I'm known by legally. Hence when I was speaking to Wits, Cambridge and others, they kept saying Mpho. The Matthew Lani was the name I built a reputation around on my social media spaces,” he said.
He further said that S Zingelwa is not his real name.
“Let me explain how the Zingelwa came to be. So, on my old TikTok account. I used to have my real name on the bio. When people disagreed with a video I made on TikTok, they would call HPCSA and the Department of Health. So, I just felt like it was affecting my career and I decided to come up with a name unbeknown to me it’s a real doctor.
“Honestly, I made the biggest mistake on that one. When I created that name, I was unaware that such a doctor existed and I'm truly regretful of that,” he said.
