| (1) | Any person registered under this Act who, after a after a determination made by a preliminary committee of inquiry on minor transgressions or an inquiry held by a professional conduct committee, 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 more of the following penalties: |
| (a) | a caution or a reprimand or a reprimand and a caution; |
| (b) | suspension for a specified period from practising or performing acts specially pertaining to his or her profession; |
| (c) | removal of his or her name from the register; |
| (e) | a compulsory period of professional service as may be determined by the professional board; or |
| (f) | the payment of the costs of the proceedings or a restitution or both. |
[Subsection (1) substituted by section 41(a) of Act No. 29 of 2007]
| (1A) | If an appeal is lodged against a penalty of erasure or suspension from practice, such penalty shall remain effective until the appeal is finalised. |
[Subsection (1A) substituted by section 41(b) of Act No. 29 of 2007]
| (2) | Every person whose conduct is the subject of an inquiry under section 41, 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 defence. |
| (3) | [Subsection (3) deleted by section 41(d) of Act No. 89 of 1997] |
| (a) | For the purposes of any inquiry held in terms of section 41, a professional board may take evidence and may, under the hand of the chairperson of the professional board or the registrar, summon witnesses and require the production of any book, record, document or thing, and may, through the chairperson of the professional board or the person presiding at the inquiry, administer an oath to any witness or accept an affirmation from him or her, and may examine any book, record, document or thing which any witness had been required to produce. |
| (b) | A summons to appear before a professional board as a witness or to produce to it any book, record, document or thing shall be, as nearly as practicable, in the prescribed form, shall be signed by the chairperson of the professional board or the registrar 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 were a subpoena issued by a magistrate's court. |
| (c) | Every person summoned in terms of this subsection shall be bound to obey the summons and any person who, having duly been 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 chairperson of a professional board or the person presiding at the inquiry to do so; |
| (iii) | refuses to produce any book, record, document or thing which he has in terms of the summons been required to produce; |
| (iv) | [Subsection (4)(c)(iv) deleted by section 41(e)(iv) of Act No. 89 of 1997] |
shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction liable to a fine determined by the Minister in consultation with the Minister of Justice by notice in the Gazette: Provided that every person so summoned shall be entitled to all the privileges to which a witness subpoenaed to give evidence before a provincial division of the High Court is entitled.
[Words following subsection (4)(c)(iii) substituted by section 41(c) of Act No. 29 of 2007]
| (5) | The chairperson of a professional board, where the professional board itself holds an inquiry in terms of section 41, or the chairperson of a professional conduct committee of a professional board, where such a committee holds an inquiry under powers delegated to it by the professional board, may appoint a person with adequate experience in the administration of justice to be present as an assessor at such an inquiry and to advise the professional board or such committee, as the case may be, on matters of law, procedure or evidence. |
[Subsection (5) substituted by section 41(d) of Act No. 29 of 2007]
| (6) | [Subsection (6) deleted by section 8 of Act No. 33 of 1976] |
| (7) | The professional board may, if it deems fit, and subject to such conditions as it may determine— |
| (a) | terminate any suspension under subsection (1) before the expiry of the specified period; or |
| (b) | on payment of the prescribed fee, restore to the register any name which has been removed therefrom. |
| (8) | If a person registered in terms of this Act (in this section referred to as the respondent) is alleged to be guilty of unprofessional conduct and the professional board on reasonable grounds is of the opinion that it shall impose a fine as determined by the Minister in consultation with the Minister of Justice by notice in the Gazette on conviction after an inquiry under section 41, the professional board may issue a summons as prescribed on which an endorsement is made by the professional board or the registrar that the respondent may admit that he or she is guilty of the said conduct and that he or she may pay the fine stipulated without appearing at the said inquiry. |
[Subsection (8) substituted by section 41(e) of Act No. 29 of 2007]
| (9) | Where a summons in terms of subsection (8) is issued against a respondent, he or she may, without appearing at an inquiry in terms of section 41, admit his or her guilt in respect of the conduct referred to in subsection (1) by paying the stipulated fine (in this section referred to as the admission of guilt fine) to the relevant professional board before a date specified in the summons. |
[Subsection (9) substituted by section 41(f) of Act No. 29 of 2007]
| (a) | Any penalty imposed under this section, excluding an admission of guilt fine, shall be paid to the professional board within 14 days after such imposition. |
| (b) | The imposition of a penalty shall have the effect of a civil judgment of the magistrate's court of the district in which the inquiry under section 41 took place. |
| (11) | The Minister may on the recommendation of the professional board amend the amount mentioned in subsection (8) by notice in the Gazette. |
