The University of the Witwatersrand, commonly known as Wits, has distanced itself from a social media medical practitioner called Dr Matthew Lani.
This after Lani informed his followers that he obtained his medical degree from Wits, a multi-campus public research university situated in the northern areas of Johannesburg.
In a video he shared on TikTok, Lani says he does not possess a matric certificate but a high school diploma he obtained through a scholarship at the University of Cambridge in England.
“I skipped three grades during my schooling years – grade four, six and eight,” Lani tells his social media followers.
“I went to a medical school when I was 16. I graduated from Wits Medical School at the age of 21 [and] I have been a doctor for three years.
“Now I am doing community service and next year I am going to be a medical officer at the age of 25.”
He shared that his colleagues have been calling him because he is trending on Twitter due to people alleging that he is lying about his HIV status.
“My employer is aware that my name on social media is different to my legal name, and I am in compliance with the social media guidelines of the Health Professions [Council] of South Africa.
“As long as I am in compliance with the authorities, I am not going to be complying to black twitter.”
On Monday, the university issued a statement setting the record straight about the claims made by Lani, urging him to remove posts where he states that he studied at Wits.
“Wits University is obliged to set the public record straight following claims made by ‘Dr Matthew Lani’ on various social media platforms,” the university said in a statement.
“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.”
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