| (1) |
Any person registered under this Act who, after the holding of an inquiry referred to in section 35, is found guilty of improper or disgraceful conduct, or conduct which, when regard is had to such person's profession, is improper or disgraceful, shall be liable to one or other of the following penalties— |
| (a) |
a caution or a reprimand or a reprimand and a caution; or |
| (b) |
suspension for a specified period from practising or performing acts specially pertaining to his or her profession; or |
| (c) |
removal of his or her name from the register; or |
| (e) |
a fine not exceeding R50 000. |
[Section 36(1)(e) substituted by Notice No. 339, GG44461, dated 19 April 2021 - with effect from 1 March 2021]
| (2) |
Any person whose conduct is being inquired into in terms of section 35 shall be afforded an opportunity, by himself or herself or through his or her legal representative, of answering the charge and of being heard in his or her defence. |
| (3) |
Any penalty imposed under subsection (1) shall be reduced to writing, and shall be signed by the president of the council and shall be made known to the bodies and persons prescribed, and thereafter such writing shall be dealt with in the prescribed manner. |
| (a) |
The council or a committee referred to in section 11(1)(a) may for the purposes of an inquiry take evidence and may, under the hand of the president of the council or the chairperson of such committee or the registrar, summon any witness and require the production of any book, record, document or thing, and may, through the president or such chairperson, administer an oath or affirmation to any witness, and may examine any book, record, document or thing which a witness has been required to produce. |
| (b) |
A summons to appear before the council or the committee as a witness or to produce to it any book, record, document or thing, shall be, as nearly as practicable, in the prescribed form and shall be served either by registered letter sent through the post or in the same manner as it would have been served if it had been a subpoena in a civil matter in a magistrate's court. |
| (c) |
person summoned under this subsection shall obey the summons and any person who, having been duly summoned— |
| (i) |
refuses, or without sufficient cause fails, to attend and give evidence relevant to the inquiry at the time and place specified in the summons; |
| (ii) |
refuses to take the oath or to make an affirmation when required by the president of the council or the chairperson of the committee concerned to do so; |
| (iii) |
refuses to produce any book, record, document or thing which he or she has in terms of the summons been required to produce; or |
| (iv) |
attends before the council or committee but refuses to answer, or to answer fully and satisfactorily to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, any question lawfully put to him or her, |
shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction liable to a fine not exceeding R2 000: Provided that a person so summoned shall be entitled to all the privileges to which a witness subpoenaed to give evidence before a provincial division of the Supreme Court is entitled.
| (5) |
The president of the council, where the council itself holds an inquiry, or the chairperson of a committee of the council, where such committee holds an inquiry under powers delegated to it by the council, shall appoint a person with adequate experience in the administration of justice as an assessor at such an inquiry to advise the council or such committee, as the case may be, on matters of law, procedure or evidence. |
| (6) |
The council may on such conditions as it may determine— |
| (a) |
terminate any suspension under subsection (1) before the expiry of the specified period; |
| (b) |
on payment of the prescribed fee, restore to the register any name which has been removed therefrom. |
| (7) |
In any case in which the evidence in support of any complaint, charge or allegation is of a documentary nature, and in any other case which the council may think fit, the registrar may act as pro forma complainant in terms of this section. |
| (a) |
A fine imposed under subsection (1)(e) shall be paid to the council within 14 days after such imposition. |
| (b) |
The imposition of a fine under subsection (1)(e) shall have the effect of a judgment in civil proceedings in the magistrate's court of the district in which the inquiry in terms of section 35 took place. |
| (c) |
The Minister may on the recommendation of the council amend the amount mentioned in subsection (1) (e) by notice in the Gazette. |
Public Service Commission Act, 1997
