Every day, thousands of weary, bright-eyed, and bushy-tailed travellers arrive in the “City of Gold”, Johannesburg, vowing to make a fortune, and leaving behind their lives of poverty.
That’s the story of every major city around the world, but in South Africa, Johannesburg is the shining city on the hill, adorned with bright lights and its streets paved with gold.
For “Dr Matthew Lani”, Johannesburg was where he was going to make his fortune. He went about it with the sort of discipline required of a charlatan in a new town: make a lasting impression and embellish some parts of your life story.
Lani, whose true identity is still unknown, went to work on the social media platform, TikTok. There, he created a persona of a medical doctor who was…