Wouter “Dr Death” Basson, who believes he is being “persecuted” by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), says charges relating to his actions from more than four decades ago are based on reasons and motivations other than protecting patients or the public.
The subject of the HPCSA’s inquiry relates to his conduct as a soldier in the then SA Defence Force (SADF), not as a medical doctor, he has argued.
Basson – former head of the apartheid government’s secret chemical and biological warfare programme, Project Coast – wants a permanent stay of proceedings against the renewed bid to convict him for professional misconduct relating to his work in the 1980s as a permanent member of the SADF.
The HPCSA’s battle against him stretches back 25 years when complaints were filed against Basson relating to his involvement in Project Coast, which the doctor, in court papers, describes as a “defensive capability” for the SADF against chemical and biological warfare attacks, of which he was the project officer.
News24 reports that he was found guilty on four counts of unprofessional and unethical conduct, but appealed the ruling, with the High Court eventually finding that the committee members who found against him had been biased.
Two had been members of the SA Medical Association and Rural Doctors Association of SA, which had called for Basson’s removal from the medical register.
The fresh bid to try him comes more than four years after the Constitutional Court dismissed the HPCSA’s attempt to appeal this ruling.
Basson believes he deserves an explanation for the delay.
In his court application, he said that since the initial charges were laid, more than 25 years have passed, and that his independent recollection of events from 40 years ago “has materially deteriorated, and it will…again be required from me to recall in detail events from four decades ago”.
Basson has denied that “the purpose of this inquiry is to protect the public”.
“I have an unblemished record as a medical practitioner, practising since 1976. These proceedings are nothing but persecution based on reasons and motivations other than protecting patients or members of the public,” he said.
Since the initial hearings, his expert witness, former SADF Surgeon-General Daniel Knobel, has died, whom Basson said “was aware of the threat of biological and chemical attacks on South Africa that led to the research in this field that forms the basis of the charges against me”.
He added that objective factual proof was obtained in 1979 that chemical agents were used by Cuban and/or South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo) forces in southern Angola against Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) forces – at the time supported by the SADF.
“It was established that the enemy forces had … equipment to use chemical and biological agents and also to defend themselves against these,” he claimed in his papers.
The SADF had no knowledge or defensive capability against such attacks on its troops, Basson added.
Chemical attacks
Because of to his chemical qualification, he had been identified to research and make recommendations on the establishment of a “defensive capability against possible chemical and/or biological attacks”.
In 1980, he was “instructed to establish a defensive capability” for the SADF. His involvement lasted until 1993, and he was put on early retirement.
However, in 1994, on instruction from then-President Nelson Mandela, he was reappointed to the Defence Force as a civilian member and medical specialist, but was “not involved in any research or development of the project after my retirement”.
Basson argued that an evaluation of the HPCSA charges against him showed “no suggestion of a doctor-patient relationship” in his conduct.
“(The charges) deal with the alleged research, manufacture and distribution of irritating and incapacitating substances for crowd control. The purpose was to attempt to avoid causing serious harm to people by applying lethal force… and to avoid violence and/or the use of lethal force when dealing with violent crowds and/or arresting people. The fourth charge related to the alleged ability to provide capsules to specialised SADF operators to enable them to commit suicide if captured and if they elect to do so.”
He said there was “no allegation of any harm ever caused to anybody in the above regard”.
No experts
After Knobel’s death, his legal representatives had contacted several experts to establish if they were qualified and available to testify but were unable to find anyone.
“I have no knowledge of any expert that can assist me in presenting my case,” he argued.
In answering papers, the HPCSA said Basson’s arguments for his application for the stay of his disciplinary inquiry owing to an unreasonable delay were “baseless and lack merit”.
Prenitha Padayachee, the HPCSA’s HoD for legal and regulatory affairs, said a key issue contributing to the delay was a “recurring theme” regarding confirmation from the State Attorney, on behalf of the Department of Defence, that the State would cover Basson’s legal costs.
She confirmed there had been delays in constituting a professional conduct committee, chaired by a retired judge and comprising “registered persons who would not be perceived to be biased”.
In 2022, the Medical and Dental Professions Board had resolved to proceed with the Basson inquiry, and after new members were appointed to the committee, Basson was formally charged on 14 August 2024.
Padayachee said the delay in the new proceedings was “partly attributable” to Basson, and that his claim that finding a substitute expert witness would be impossible was “exaggeration”.
In April 2022, Basson, who practises as a cardiologist at Mediclinic Durbanville, was acquitted on 46 charges, ranging from murder and drug trafficking to fraud and theft.
He said his criminal prosecution was based on the same factual allegations contained in the HPCSA’s charge sheet.
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Wouter Basson faces another HPCSA disciplinary
Concourt rejects HPCSA appeal over Wouter Basson
HPCSA will take yet another try at a disciplinary hearing into Basson