Among several high-profile cases set down for 2026, the public will probably be most interested in those involving the National Health Insurance. Decades after the end of the infamous Project Coast, the man dubbed “Dr Death” is expected to appear in the high court in early 2026. This time, Dr Wouter Basson (75) won’t be in the dock.
Instead, he is appealing to the court to have the misconduct charges he faces dropped. The cardiologist has faced censure from the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) for more than two decades after it filed misconduct charges against him in 2000 for his activities while he was the leader of the apartheid-era chemical weapons programme known as “Project Coast”. His hearings have been a stop-start affair interspersed with legal challenges.
In 2019, the Constitutional Court ruled that the panel hearing Basson’s disciplinary case should recuse itself, based on bias. Then, in 2024, the HPCSA gave him notice that it would restart the proceedings with a new adjudication panel. This is the decision he is challenging.
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“The complaints were laid against me about 20 years after the alleged unprofessional conduct by people who were not involved and without any personal knowledge of the alleged conduct. About 25 years has lapsed since the filing of the complaints against me,” Basson says in an affidavit filed at the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria. He also points out that the charges he faces are similar to the criminal charges on which he was acquitted in 2002.
“The prosecution appealed that judgment to the Supreme Court of Appeal as well as the Constitutional Court, and both courts dismissed those appeals,” Basson argues. In response, the HPCSA’s legal and regulatory affairs head, Prenitha Kantha Padayachee, deposed an affidavit saying Basson is not giving the court the full picture. She says that, as the guardian of the medical and dental professions, the HPCSA has an obligation to act where there is “prima facie evidence” of misconduct.
She explains the long history of the case, all the way from 2000, and says the HPCSA has spent the past few years trying to set up a new inquiry, but the issue of Basson’s funding became a sticking point. “I point out that a key issue which contributed to the delay in the matter is a recurring theme in the correspondence from the applicant’s attorneys that they are awaiting confirmation from the State Attorney, on behalf of the Department of Defence, that the State will resume financial cover for the applicant’s legal costs.” Padayachee also reveals that the council had debated whether to continue with the Basson prosecution because of the costs.
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