A stand-in at a Midrand surgery, a 'dermatologist' at Steve Biko Academic Hospital, a Nelspruit medical centre: three unregistered practitioners arrested in South Africa in early 2026

In South Africa anyone who treats patients must be on the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) register, and practising without registration is a criminal offence under section 17(1) of the Health Professions Act. The council can discipline only registered practitioners; someone never registered can only be prosecuted. Three arrests reported in February and March 2026 show the different doors through which unregistered people enter surgeries, hospitals and medical centres.

According to SABC News (6 February 2026), a female foreign national temporarily standing in for a general practitioner in Midrand was arrested for fraud and contravening the Health Professions Act in a joint operation by the HPCSA inspectorate, SAPS Crime Intelligence and the Johannesburg metro police. Registrar Dr Magome Masike said the case came to light through compliance inspections and that action would be taken against both individuals involved. IOL (19 March 2026) reported that Faith Mayahle, a Zimbabwean national, was apprehended at Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria after presenting herself as a specialist dermatologist while applying for a post; she was not registered and had submitted documents belonging to a registered doctor. Charged with fraud and contravening the Act, she appeared in the Pretoria Magistrates' Court on 12 March and was granted bail. The same report said the Inspectorate found Dickson Kadirire, also Zimbabwean, practising at a Nelspruit medical centre without registration; he was detained and due in court on 16 March.

The arrests sit inside figures the health minister gave Parliament. According to IOL (26 March 2026) and MedicalBrief (1 April 2026), Dr Aaron Motsoaledi told ATM MP Thandiswa Marawu that a practitioner arrested in Midrand on 28 January 2026 had allegedly practised for ten years undetected because the person was never on the register, until a public tip-off led to a joint operation with SAPS. He said 20 bogus practitioners were arrested in 2025/26 after 49 the year before, and inspections rose from 3,528 to more than 6,984. A Spotlight investigation republished by MedicalBrief (11 February 2026) quoted Masike putting the conviction rate at about 77 per cent, with typical penalties of about R12,000 or around two years' imprisonment.

The cases failed at different points. In Midrand and Nelspruit nobody at the practice appears to have checked the stand-in or the employee against the register; it took an inspection to find them. At Steve Biko the hospital's own verification caught the applicant before she treated anyone, which the HPCSA said shows why institutions must verify credentials rigorously. The minister's warning signs were cash-only payment, because medical schemes will not pay unregistered people, a mismatch between the practice name and the person treating you, and no HPCSA registration certificate on the wall.

For a student, a family or a clinic owner the check is the same: search the HPCSA online register by surname, match the registration number to the person in front of you and to the certificate on the wall and the prescription pad, and report anything that does not fit to the Inspectorate, which accepts anonymous complaints. A graduate offered locum work should expect to be verified, and should never lend a certificate or registration number to anyone.