Proceedings start against former chemical warfare chief

The Health Professions Council, South Africa's statutory registration body for health professionals, has finally instituted preliminary proceedings into the behaviour of cardiologist Wouter Basson, who led South Africa's secret chemical warfare programme in the apartheid era.

Dr Basson is on trial for murder and fraud, and South Africans have been horrified by the daily accounts of the bizarre and cruel behaviour meted out to apartheid's opponents, including the administration of a poison allegedly devised and supplied by Dr Basson.

Dr Basson remains registered as a doctor with the Health Professions Council, and when he is not in court he …