The government is pursuing criminal charges against the man who has been exposed as an imposter after shooting to fame as one of the youngest doctors.
Social media users unmasked Matthew Lani as a fraud after he assumed several identities including that of Sanele Zingelwa while he posed as a doctor working at a state hospital.
The Gauteng Health Department whose facilities the 27 used to film himself purporting to be a medical practitioner at work says it has laid criminal charges..
The department said in a statement Lani was never in its employ but rather gained access into facilities without being noticed.
“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”, said provincial health spokesperson Motaletale Modiba.
Modiba also defended the department’s posting of the alleged fraudster on department’s socials as one of its young medical practitioners saying Lani inserted himself among a group of employees asked to provide Youth Day content.
“Lani was one of the participants, and this was the only time the department ever worked with him”, said Modiba adding nothing raised suspicion at the time.
He also accused Lani of fabricating claims about a large number of people having been admitted at the Helen Joseph Hospital after taking a weight loss pill and another about non payment of trainee doctors.
Meanwhile Cambridge International College and Wits University have already distanced themselves from the outspoken Lani after he had claimed to have obtained qualifications from them.
The Health Professionals Council of South Africa also confirmed it has no record of him on its list of medical practitioners.