Dr Wouter Basson says he will defend his medical practice after it emerged that he would be charged for his alleged role in the army’s weapons programme, Independent Online reported on Monday.
Complaints were lodged with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) about Basson’s alleged role in Project Coast, a top-secret programme which apparently included attempts to develop bacteria capable of killing Africans.
Basson has a private cardiology practice in Cape Town and Pretoria.
Professor Lesley London of the Health and Human Rights Project at the University of Cape Town and Dr Ralph Mgijima, former superintendent in the Gauteng health department, lodged separate complaints to the council about Basson’s role as the head of Project Coast.
Basson said he was aware of attempts to have him struck off the roll for the past four years.
”I have been informed about the complaints and will obviously defend myself. Medicine is my life and I intend to keep practising,” he said.
Basson, who was registered as a doctor in 1973 and was former president PW Botha’s physician, said the complainants had tried to get the council to act against his ”unethical conduct” because he was a medical doctor at the time of his involvement in the South African Defence Force programme.
Despite the complaint being lodged, HPCSA spokesperson Tendai Dhliwayo said the council’s hands were tied by Basson’s criminal trial.
Basson was acquitted in 2002 following a marathon trial in which he was accused of 229 murders, trafficking in drugs, fraud, and conspiracy to murder and theft. He refused to seek amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
It emerged in 2006 that Basson was still being paid a salary by the military despite not having worked since 1999.
”I have no moral or other obligation to resign the post. I did not suspend myself,” he told SAfm radio.
”If I had a choice, I would be back working.”
Reports said Basson was getting R50 000 a month.
Formerly a brigadier-general, Basson was suspended when he was tried for 67 apartheid-era crimes. – Sapa