| (a) |
For the purpose of any inquiry held in terms of section 39, the council may take evidence and may, under the hand of the president or the registrar, summon witnesses and require the production of any book, record, document or thing and may, through the president, administer an oath to any witness or accept an affirmation from him, and may examine any book, record, document or thing which any witness had been required to produce. |
| (b) |
A summons to appear before the council 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 president or the registrar and shall be served either by registered letter sent through the post or in the same manner as it would be 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 been duly 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 president 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; or |
| (iv) |
attends before the council and refuses to answer, or to answer fully and satisfactorily to the best of his knowledge and belief, any question lawfully put to him, |
shall be guilty of an offence and on conviction liable to a fine not exceeding the amount to be determined by the Minister from time to time 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 Supreme Court is entitled.
| (2) |
Every person whose conduct is the subject of an inquiry under section 39, shall be afforded an opportunity, by himself or through his legal representative, of answering the charge and of being heard in his defence. |
| (3) |
The council shall be entitled to make an order as regards the costs incurred in an inquiry or investigation relating to the conduct of a registered person, of an amount not exceeding the amount determined by the Minister from time to time by notice in the Gazette. |
Statistics Act, 1999
