Fugitive Facebook ‘doctor’ re-arrested 

Gauteng police have re-arrested a bogus Facebook doctor who had been on the run since last week. 

“The accused was re-arrested in the early hours of the morning on Monday, 16 October, in Vosloorus. The arrest was as a result of information and tip-off received from one of the media houses following a media statement issued about the wanted fugitive,” said police spokesperson Mavela Masondo.

“The suspect, whose country of birth is yet to be confirmed, is expected to appear before the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. A charge of escaping from lawful custody will be added to the charges that he was already facing,” said Masondo

The Facebook doctor was arrested on 2 October after two cases of fraud were registered in Sunnyside and Klipgat in June.

The Facebook con artist, targeted women by misrepresenting himself as a doctor or a pharmacist and scamming them of money. He went by the names of Dr Kingsley Chele or Dr KJ Ncube. 

“He operated by contacting health professionals on Facebook and engaging them, pretending to seek investors while he swindled them out of thousands of rands for projects that did not exist,” said Masondo.

Chele was remanded in custody and denied when he appeared before the Pretoria Magistrate Court. He will appear in court on Tuesday.

“The investigating officer of the case roped in the asset forfeiture unit to assist in attaching the accused property that is believed to have been accumulated as proceeds of crime, including a 2023 VW Golf GTI. On 11 October, Chele managed to escape from lawful custody when the police were cataloguing his household items at his residence, and he has been on the run since,” said Masondo, speaking about how he had escaped.

Bogus doctors

Bogus health professionals have been making headlines on social media of late, with one a Dr Matthew Lani, eventually getting exposed.

Lani rose to fame on TikTok where he allegedly offered medical advice, especially on HIV prevention and management.

He allegedly posted several videos of him working at what looked like a hospital.

READ ALSO: Wits University and HPCSA: We have no record of ‘influencer doctor’ Matthew Lani

Another case was Limpopo resident Nthabiseng Ramokolo who was accused of falsely claiming to be a qualified pharmacist and pursuing a master’s degree.

After conducting a thorough examination of their records Limpopo University confirmed that Ramokolo was not a pharmacy graduate at the university. Furthermore, it said she had never been a student there, debunking her claim of being a master’s student.

READ ALSO: Another bogus health professional exposed – University has no record of Nthabiseng Ramokolo

Ramokolo also claimed to be an employee of Dis-Chem, a prominent pharmaceutical company.

However, Dis-Chem stated it had no record of employing anyone by the name of “Nthabiseng Ramokolo” and called the information listed on her LinkedIn account inaccurate.

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