| (1) | A victim to abuse or a person witnessing any form of abuse, exploitation or degrading treatment against a mental health care user as contemplated in section 11(1) of the Act— |
| (a) | may report this fact to the Review Board concerned in the form of Form MHCA 02 of the Annexure; or |
| (b) | may lay a charge with the South African Police Service who shall investigate the matter and take appropriate action, and thereafter in writing notify the Review Board concerned of that charge. |
| (2) | When a Review Board receives a report contemplated in subregulation (1)(a) that Board must investigate that report and if necessary, lay a charge with the South African Police Service and may decide to hold a complaint hearing. |
| (3) | Should the Review Board decide to hold a complaint hearing, the secretariat of the Review Board must in writing and by registered post inform— |
| (a) | the person who witnessed the abuse, exploitation or degrading treatment of a mental health care user; |
| (b) | the relevant mental health care practitioners; |
| (c) | the head of the health establishment concerned; |
| (d) | the mental health care user concerned; and |
| (e) | any other person whom the Review Board considers to be relevant to the hearing, of the complaint, the date of hearing and whether written or oral representation, as appropriate, must be made to the Review Board and advise of the right of representation as required. |
| (4) | The Review Board must give notice of the hearing contemplated in subregulation (3) at least two weeks before the date of such hearing. |
| (5) | The Review Board may issue a summons in the form of Form MHCA 18 of the Annexure to any person to appear before it as a witness to give evidence or to produce any book, record, document or other item, which in the opinion of the Review Board is relevant to the hearing. |
[Regulation 7 substituted by regulation 6 of Notice No. 1590, GG 40515, dated 23 December 2016]
