Former apartheid-era chemical warfare chief Dr Wouter Basson has lost his bid to stop disciplinary proceedings after the Gauteng High Court dismissed his application for leave to appeal, clearing the way for the HPCSA hearing to continue.
Former apartheid-era chemical and biological warfare programme head Dr Wouter Basson has suffered another legal setback after the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria refused him leave to appeal against a ruling that he must face long-delayed disciplinary proceedings before the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA).
Basson, 75, had earlier this year failed in his application for a permanent stay of the disciplinary proceedings. He subsequently sought leave to appeal that decision, but the court dismissed his application, finding there was no reasonable prospect that another court would reach a different conclusion.
The court held that the allegations against Basson were sufficiently serious to warrant the continuation of the disciplinary process.
Basson, a Cape Town-based cardiologist, was found guilty of unprofessional conduct by the HPCSA in December 2013 following a disciplinary inquiry into his role in the apartheid government's covert chemical and biological warfare programme, Project Coast, during the 1980s.
