After being exposed as a bogus doctor, Matthew Lani has reportedly returned to social media, where he continues to dispense medical advice and peddle his weight loss pills.
The state’s initiative to impose substantial fines, arrests and prosecutions, including imprisonment, for individuals who have falsified their qualifications deserves praise as a significant step towards penalising those involved in alleged fraudulent activities.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to authorise the implementation of the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Amendment Act.
Although the bill was passed into law in August 2019, its enforcement was postponed until Ramaphosa officially declared October 13, 2023, as the date it would take effect.
The enactment of this bill comes in response to recent incidents where individuals who misrepresented their qualifications were exposed on social media.
One such case involved a TikTok sensation known as “Matthew Bongani Lani”, who was publicly exposed for falsely posing as a medical doctor. The Gauteng Department of Health filed a criminal case against him, while Wits University unequivocally denied his claim of having studied at their institution.
Additionally, the Health Professions Council of SA confirmed that Lani was not registered as a medical practitioner.
To exacerbate the situation, the provincial Department of Education verified that Lani had never completed his matric, and Cambridge International College said there were no records of him having completed his high school education there.
The bill categorises it as a criminal offence to be complicit in falsifying, disseminating, or publishing a qualification or part qualification, altering the national learners’ records database, or tampering with the qualifications register.
Furthermore, it criminalises the act of knowingly providing false or misleading information when required to furnish information or give notice.
Failure to implement such stringent measures to deter fraudsters from seeking expedient but dishonest solutions to advance themselves would undermine the credibility and worth of our qualifications, both domestically and internationally, in the eyes of prospective employers.
Cape Times