HPCSA complaint lodged against doctor linked to Toti bomber
AFRIFORUM has lodged a complaint with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) against two doctors, one of whom allegedly transported Andrew Zondo, who bombed Sanlam Centre in Toti in 1985, which claimed the lives of five people and injured nine.
The civil rights organisation has lodged official complaints of unprofessional and unethical conduct with the HPCSA against former surgeon general, Lt Gen Vejaynand Ramlakan and KZN health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, who were involved in ANC bomb attacks at supermarkets and shopping centres in Durban in 1985.
The doctors both admitted before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that they had supplied explosive devices during the ANC's 'Operation Butterfly' for a series of attacks on inter alia civilian targets.
AfriForum submitted the complaint after Dr Wouter Basson was prosecuted by the HPCSA for his actions during the previous dispensation.
According to Kallie Kriel, CEO of AfriForum, the complaints are aimed at protecting the constitutional principle of equality before the law. “If the HPCSA is going to act on ethical grounds against Wouter Basson for his role in the conflict of the past, it is only fair to expect of the HPCSA to act on ethical grounds against other medical practitioners who were involved in bombings during the same conflict, where people were hurt or killed, or where the possibility existed that people might have been hurt or killed.”
Ramlakan and Dhlomo were practising doctors during the attacks and are still registered as medical practitioners.
Dhlomo admitted before the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) he had supplied explosive devices for various explosions in Durban on 27 September 1985, at the OK Bazaar, Game, Spar and Checkers. Other incidents in which he was involved were explosions in the same year at Grosvenor Girls' High and the Executive Hotel in Umlazi. Dhlomo also transported Zondo, the man who had planted the Amanzimtoti bomb which had killed civilians, from the Swaziland border to Durban.
Ramlakan admitted before the TRC his involvement in the 1985 bombing of the home of politician Amichand Rajbansi and the Chatsworth magistrate's court. He also admitted before the TRC that people were injured in some of the other attacks executed by people under his command.
The HPCSA confirmed receipt of the complaint. “We have received a complaint and it will follow due legal processes,” said chief operations officer, Advocate Tshepo Boikanyo.
