Court finds for ‘Dr Death’
AN application by controversial apartheidera doctor Wouter Basson to have two Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) members recused from the committee deciding his penalty for unethical conduct has succeeded on appeal.
Basson‚ dubbed “Doctor Death”‚ was head of the apartheid government’s chemical and biological warfare programme‚ Project Coast.
He was found guilty of unethical conduct by an HPCSA tribunal in December 2013.
Basson was found to have committed acts which included the production of deadly drugs and other substances to be used against “enemies” of the apartheid state‚ providing substances to tranquillise victims of crossborder kidnapping‚ and providing cyanide-filled suicide capsules for members of special units.
His penalty hearing started in 2014‚ but was interrupted by his application calling for the council’s chairman‚ Jannie Hugo‚ and committee member Eddie Mhlanga‚ to be recused.
The pair were members of the South African Medical Association‚ and Basson and his lawyers claimed they were biased because the association had publicly expressed dismay at his conduct during apartheid. The application for recusal was refused by the committee. Basson went to the Gauteng North High Court in Pretoria to challenge this, but in 2016 his appeal for the professors’ recusal was dismissed.
The court ruled Basson had to exhaust the HPCSA’s internal appeals procedures to challenge its decisions.
Judge Jeremiah Shongwe‚ acting president of the Supreme Court of Appeal‚ found in favour of Basson yesterday.
His ruling said Basson had contended that a penalty imposed by a committee remained effective until the appeal was finalised. This situation‚ Basson argued‚ was prejudicial to him‚ in that such penalty would cause irreparable harm to his practice.
He further argued that the sanction would be imposed by the same people he wanted to have recused. – TimesLIVE