| (1) |
The Registrar must perform the administrative functions necessary to support the functioning of a disciplinary tribunal. |
(2)
| (a) |
The disciplinary tribunal may, for the purposes of a hearing, summons the person charged, or subpoena any person— |
| (i) |
who in its opinion may be able to give material information concerning the subject of the hearing; or |
| (ii) |
who it suspects or believes has in his or her possession or custody or under his or her control any book, document or object which has any bearing on the subject of the hearing, |
to appear before the disciplinary tribunal at the time and place specified in the subpoena, to be questioned or to produce a book, document or object.
| (b) |
A subpoena issued in terms of paragraph (a), must — |
| (i) |
be in the form prescribed by rules; |
| (ii) |
be signed by the chairperson of the disciplinary tribunal or, in his or her absence, any member of the disciplinary tribunal; and |
| (iii) |
be served on the subpoenaed person personally or by sending it by registered mail. |
| (3) |
The disciplinary tribunal may retain a book, document or object produced in terms of subsection (2)(a) for the duration of the hearing. |
| (4) |
The chairperson of the disciplinary tribunal may call upon and administer an oath to, or take an affirmation from, any witness. |
(5)
| (a) |
A witness who has been subpoenaed may not— |
| (i) |
without sufficient cause, fail to attend the hearing at the time and place specified in the subpoena; |
| (ii) |
refuse to be sworn or to be affirmed as a witness; |
| (iii) |
without sufficient cause, fail to answer fully and satisfactorily to the best of his or her knowledge to all questions lawfully put to him or her; or |
| (iv) |
fail to produce any book, document or object in his or her possession or custody or under his or her control which he or she is required to produce. |
| (b) |
A witness who has been subpoenaed must remain in attendance until excused by the chairperson of the disciplinary tribunal from further attendance. |
| (c) |
A witness who has been subpoenaed may request that the names of the members of the disciplinary tribunal be made available to him or her . |
| (d) |
The law relating to privilege, as applicable to a witness subpoenaed to give evidence or to produce a book, document or object in a civil trial before a court of law must, with the necessary changes, apply in relation to the examination of, or the production of any book, document or object to the disciplinary tribunal by, any person called in terms of this section as a witness. |
| (e) |
A witness may not, after having been sworn or having been affirmed as a witness, give a false statement on any matter, knowing that answer or statement to be false. |
| (f) |
No person may unlawfully prevent another person from complying with a subpoena or from giving evidence or producing a book, document or object which he or she, in terms of this section, is required to give or produce. |
| (6) |
The record of evidence which has a bearing on the charge before the disciplinary tribunal, and which was presented before any tribunal which investigated an event or conduct relating to the hearing before the disciplinary tribunal, is admissible without further evidence being led if— |
| (a) |
the record is accompanied by a certificate from the chairperson of the relevant disciplinary tribunal; and |
| (b) |
the certificate certifies that the investigation was lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair. |
| (7) |
If the improper conduct with which the registered person is charged amounts to an offence of which he or she has been convicted by a court of law, a certified copy of the record of his or her trial and conviction by that court is, on the identification of the registered person as the person referred to in the record, sufficient proof of the commission by him or her of that offence, unless the conviction has been set aside by a superior court. |
| (8) |
The Council may prescribe procedures not inconsistent with this Act for the effective performance of the functions of a disciplinary tribunal. |
Older Persons Act, 2006
