Health department opens criminal case against bogus doctor

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The Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) have opened a case of impersonating a medical doctor at the Brixton Police Station in Brixton.

This following reports of a so called ‘Dr Matthew Lani’ who had assumed various pseudo medical roles falsely presenting himself as an employee of the department.

According to Motalatale Modiba, the departmental spokesperson, Lani managed to weave his way into the system pretending to be in the employ of Helen Joseph Hospital.

“This is 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.

“The real Dr Sanele Sobani Vambani Zingelwa has since opened a case of identity fraud at the Tembisa Police Station.

“On June 16, 2022, the GDoH ran a campaign across its facilities as part of Youth Month commemorations where many young medical professionals were asked to send in their video clips on what it means for them to be born-frees (born after 1994).

Lani was one of the participants, and this was the only time the Department ever worked with him. At the time there was nothing that raised suspicion that he was not a person in the employ of the
facility,” he said.

Modiba stated that in October 2022, Lani recorded a video complaining of non-payment as a medical intern at Helen Joseph Hospital.

He continued; “The complaint caught the attention of the department and was referred to the management of the hospital to look into the matter.

“Subsequently, he was contacted by the CEO and asked to present himself at the facility’s human resource unit to address his complaint.

“He then confirmed that his matter was receiving attention and even deleted the video he had posted on TikTok at the time as he felt it was drawing unnecessary attention.”

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Modiba added that he department has also learnt that under the name that he claims is his real name of ‘Dr Sanele Zingelwa’, Lani fabricated a story about a large number of people having been admitted at Helen Joseph Hospital after taking a particular weight-loss pill.

“This led The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) to investigate the matter in
August 2023, and found out that there was no such.

“The incident has elevated the urgent need to strengthen access control across all our facilities and to improve employee identification processes,” he concluded.