THE Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has denied knowing Dr Matthew Lani.
Lani is a famous "doctor" influencer from TikTok who set social media abuzz on Monday, 9 October when he was accused of being a fake doctor.
Lani’s popular for giving out medical advice on TikTok, and he's also an HIV/Aids activist. But people on social media said he is not a medical doctor, he's making it all up.
Despite persistent claims that he has fake medical qualifications, Lani maintains his status as a medical doctor.
He's also accused of lying about his age. He said he is 24 years old, but people claim he's 27 years old.
In a video he posted in March 2023, he claimed the HPCSA advised him to make a video explaining his surnames.
“Lani is not my legal surname. That's my social media handle, not my legal surname. I don’t use the Lani surname in my ID. Zingelwa is my legal surname... At least the HPCSA will put it on record that Lani and Zingelwa are the same people,” he said at the time.
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However, HPCSA’s head of division: corporate affairs, Christopher Tsatsawane, said Lani doesn’t appear in their system.
“The name of Dr Matthew Zingelwa-Lani does not appear on the register of health practitioners kept by the council,” he said.
Lani said he got into Wits University medical school at the age of 16 and finished at the age of 21, claiming he's doing his internship now.
However, Wits has released a statement saying they don't have Lani on their system.
“Wits University is obliged to set the public record straight following claims made by ‘Dr Matthew Lani’ on various social media platforms. Based on the names presented to the institution, and the facts on hand, the university can't find any person who graduated by the name of Matthew Bongani Zingelwa or Sanele Zingelwa in recent years. We're requesting ‘Dr Matthew Lani’ to retract any such claim with immediate effect,” the university said.
When responding to the claims that he’s a fake doctor, Lani said: “When I saw the reason, I was trending, I just rolled my eyes and then continued with what I was doing. And the reason for that reaction is because it’s not the first time. I've been down this road before. I've made videos, I've shown receipts, and I've been addressing this matter and honestly speaking. It’s getting to a point where it’s exhausting because it seems it’s falling on deaf ears."
The Gauteng Department of Health issued a statement on Monday, 9 October, saying they had opened a case of impersonating a medical doctor at the Brixton Police Station.
"This follows reports of a so-called 'Dr Matthew Lani' who had assumed various pseudo medical roles falsely presenting himself as an employee of the department.
"Lani managed to weave his way into the system pretending to be in the employ of Helen Joseph Hospital where he moved around the hospital corridors curating content for social media.
"Further investigations have revealed that Dr Sanele Zingelwa, the name which the Lani claims is his real name, belongs to a second-year medical intern at Tembisa Provincial Tertiary Hospital," said the department.
