WITS University has disassociated itself from a man who has been trending on social media for several days after being exposed as a fraudulent doctor following the posting of a statement on their X page.
The man, who identifies as “Dr Matthew Lani” , Matthew Bongani Zingelwa or Sanele Zingelwa has claimed to be a medical doctor and that he graduated from the institution at the age of 22 becoming the youngest doctor in the country.
“Based on the names presented to the institution, and the facts on hand, the University cannot find any person who graduated by the name of Matthew Bongani Zingelwa or Sanele Zingelwa in recent years. We are requesting “Dr Matthew Lani” to retract any such claim with immediate effect”, reads the statement by the university.
Following pressure from social media users who saw inconsistencies in his story, Lani assumed the identity of Dr Sanele Zingelwa, a Cuban trained medical practitioner who has since confirmed in a much publicised text message chat with a colleague that he was aware that someone had been pretending to be him and sought help from the police to no avail. ( See below conversation)
Lani’s mental state has been questioned after it was revealed he claimed to be a police officer. While posing as a doctor. Lani did interviews on big media platforms and had been selling medication to unsuspecting people.
After posting a video on Monday morning attempting to explain why he was always changing his name and why there was no formal record of him being a medical expert, Lani has since vanished. This is a developing story.