Fake doctor caught out again in another scam
A WEST RAND man who was exposed as a fake medical doctor has resurfaced, this time as a bogus union leader.
In 2012, Tshepo Maponyane, 36, of Kagiso on the West Rand, posed as a doctor, duping corporates and private organisations.
Sowetan has now learnt that he has wormed his way onto the board of a Roodepoort nongovernmental organisation (NGO) that protects children and families in distress.
It is alleged Maponyane used the title “Dr” to win the hearts of members.
Maponyane also claimed to be a general secretary for the SA Aviation and Allied Workers Union (Saaawu) and promised to use his political links to help.
Now Saaawu wants to take legal action against him. Maponyane allegedly used the union’s name to register a company with the same name as the union.
Errol Goetsch, director of The Justice and Reconciliation Centre, said they were about to finalise Maponyane ’ s appointment as a board member when he came across a Sowetan article published in August 2012.
Goetsch immediately halted the appointment, which would have been made two weeks ago.
The Sowetan article stated that Maponyane posed as a doctor and commented on health issues on radio shows.
Maponyane first made contact with the organisation about a month-and-ahalf ago during a workshop where he related his own custody battles and positioned himself as “the good guy”.
“He presented himself as a doctor and general secretary of Saaawu. That immediately gave him stature. He was very vocal and he took it upon himself to go and speak to other organisations on our behalf.
“He could easily have used us to source for funding,” said Goetsch.
Goetsch said Maponyane showed great interest in taking over the organisation’s mediation software initiative with intentions of turning it into profit for himself.
“He also wanted to be paid as the director and make money out of the software that was meant to do work on a pro bono basis.
“That ’ s when our alarms went off,” said Goetsch.