The Rise and Fall of Bogus TikTok Doctor Matthew Bongani Lani

Bogus TikTok Doctor Matthew Lani

Matthew Bongani Lani, a fraudulent TikTok doctor, gained widespread attention in South Africa. He was known for his confident medical advice and promoting health products. However, his reputation was quickly shattered when he was interrogated in a Johannesburg hospital for allegedly claiming to be a doctor. Despite this, Lani continued to claim he was an actual doctor, and his detractors were "haters" chasing online "clout."

Lani first appeared in public consciousness in 2021, appearing on the SABC3 human interest talk show Unpacked with Relebogile Mabotja. He claimed to have been conned by a former partner who deliberately infected him with HIV as punishment for ending their relationship. This TV appearance galvanized Lani's aspirations to become a public figure. To commemorate World Aids Day in 2021, he appeared on Talk Radio 702 as part of a feature called South Africans Doing Great Things. He expressed his passion for educating his peers about HIV/Aids and claimed to have established an NGO called Greater Than Aids Afrika.

Lani also attempted to make money off his story, initially via crowdfunding. A first appeal listed him as an HIV/Aids prevention educator and an intern clinical psychologist. When that bid failed to gain traction, Lani launched a new crowdfunding appeal in March 2022, claiming to be raising money to bulk-purchase sanitary supplies for young women.

The transition from claiming to be a psychology student at the University of Johannesburg to claiming to be a Wits-trained junior doctor is unclear. Still, the driving motivation seems to have been the growth of his medical-themed TikTok account. Lani alternated between virality-seeking behavior and more niche content where he would dispense medical advice and extol the virtues of the slimming pills he sold on the side.

Matthew Bongani Lani, a South African doctor, was a controversial figure who gained over 200,000 followers on TikTok. His videos often featured him wearing medical scrubs and having a stethoscope around his neck. He also frequently filmed himself in and around Johannesburg's Helen Joseph Hospital, ostensibly on ward rounds. However, as Lani's TikTok followers grew to more than 200,000, questions began to mount about his medical advice. In 2021, social media user Gomolemo Seleke pointed out that some of the medical advice being given out by Lani was problematic.

One of the entities fooled by Lani has caused particular outrage: the Gauteng Department of Health. For Youth Day 2022, the department featured Lani in a since-deleted special video paying tribute to young medical professionals. The fact that Lani was happy to comply with this promotion, despite knowing the attention it would draw from actual doctors, speaks volumes of how deep he seems to have been into his deception.

Lani's claims about his background grew increasingly bizarre and implausible. In recent months on TikTok, no longer satisfied with simply being a junior doctor, he slashed several years off his actual age to claim that he was also a prodigy who had skipped three grades at school and completed his medical school training at Wits to graduate by the age of 21.

The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), the Gauteng Department of Health, and Helen Joseph Hospital confirmed that Matthew Bongani Lani was not a registered doctor. Lani, impossibly, almost impressively, doubled down. For those wondering how it is possible that the single story of a relatively unimportant fraudster could have gripped the nation for weeks, this is the key: the surreal shamelessness of Lani's attempts to continue subverting the truth.

Lani was merely a "TikTok name," he said; he was registered with the HPCSA under his real name (which turned out to be that of another young doctor who has now laid identity theft charges). He didn't have a Matric certificate because he had a high school diploma from "Cambridge University" (he doesn't). In one TikTok video, he purported to hang his medical degree on the wall; elsewhere, he pretended to display his hospital locker. In another video, he showed fake exonerating emails between himself and the HPCSA; in yet another, a confected exonerating text message exchange between himself and a "Buhle from the Department of Health."

A week after being outed as fake, he was back on TikTok under a different name, apologising for the delay in filling orders of his slimming products. After being arrested last weekend in action at Helen Joseph Hospital, authorities hoped to finally be rid of Lani – only for the NPA to declare the charges against him currently unwinnable.

In conclusion, Matthew Lani's convincing performance as a doctor relied heavily on props, costumes, and sets. His actions were influenced by a concerted campaign by the HPCSA and SAPS, with 124 fake doctors arrested in South Africa since 2021.