Apartheid-era chemical warfare expert Dr Wouter Basson is expected to appeal an HPCSA ruling, at the High Court in Pretoria, that found him guilty on all charges relating to his professional conduct as a head doctor during apartheid.
Basson was found guilty of unprofessional conduct by the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) in December 2013, following a six-year long inquiry.
The HPCSA inquiry was held to determine whether Basson acted unethically during his work on the apartheid government's chemical and biological weapons project, Project Coast, during the 1980s and early 1990s.
In his defence, Basson claimed he acted as a soldier and not a doctor.
Basson was accused of acting unethically by being involved in the large-scale production of Mandrax, cocaine and teargas, of weaponising teargas, and of supplying it to Angola's Unita leader Jonas Savimbi.
He was accused of acting unethically by providing disorientating substances for cross-border kidnappings and making cyanide capsules available for distribution to operatives for use in committing suicide.
In 2002, Basson was acquitted by the High Court in Pretoria of criminal charges arising from his conduct.
The HPCSA reviewed the judgment to establish if there were grounds to hold an inquiry. The State appealed against the decision of the high court in the Supreme Court of Appeal, but the appeal was dismissed.
The State then went to the Constitutional Court, but that case was dismissed in September 2005.
Source: News24
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