Wouter Basson vs HPCSA round two, with Tammy Petersen

The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) continues in 2025 to push for some form of historical accountability from “Dr Death” Wouter Basson’s involvement in the apartheid government’s secret chemical and biological warfare programme, “Project Coast”. But as News24’s Cape Town journalist Tammy Petersen reports in this edition of The Lead, the Durbanville-based cardiologist has, at the age of 74, turned to the High Court to get the HPCSA off his back once and for all: “Dr Basson argues in his court papers that this new bid by the HPCSA is nothing but persecution,” says Petersen. Later in the show, we learn that a former Transnet official is wanted by the police for the mistaken hit on a Vereeniging engineer whose company blew the whistle on procurement corruption. Finally, attorneys for disgraced R&B singer R Kelly claim he’s in danger behind bars and argue that he should be put under house arrest. You can now send a short voice note of 15 to 20 seconds with your questions or thoughts on this episode to our official The Lead WhatsApp line, that’s: +27 72 562 3179. Mail your comments to thelead@24.com. Editions drop Monday through Thursday at 19:00 on Spotify, Apple and YouTube.