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This is an application for judicial review of a decision by the first respondent (“the Minister”) to discharge the applicant (“Mr Becker”) as a director of the third respondent (“the Board”) for misconduct in terms of section 9(1)(c) of the National Nuclear Regulation Act 47 of 1999 (“the Act”).  Mr Becker was discharged from his position pursuant to some utterances or statements he made and were recorded in an article published in the online magazine ‘Energize’ on 30 June 2021 and some further reasons that were put forward by the Minister.  Mr Becker does not dispute such statements, but contends that if due regard is heard to his statements, there were no grounds to sustain a conclusion of misconduct, and that the Minister’s decision is vitiated by various irregularities, bad faith and an ulterior purpose, and is accordingly unconstitutional, unlawful and invalid.

The first, second and third respondents opposed this application on the basis that Mr Becker’s statements and actions evidenced that he had allowed himself to be caught in a conflict of interest.  This, on its own constitutes misconduct which justified a discharge from his directorship in terms of section 9(1)(c) of the Act by the Minister.