SAMLA
South African
Medico-Legal Association
The aim of this conference is the exchange of knowledge among healthcare and legal professionals. The conference endeavours to foster a deeper understanding of medico-legal issues and to promote best practices for medico-legal practitioners.
Our goal is to provide attendees with valuable insights and information, as well as possible practical strategies and solutions, in terms of the complex intersection between medicine and law.
The conference seeks to empower the attendees to enhance patient safety, mitigate legal risks, and to promote the highest standards of ethical conduct.
The conference will open at 08h00 on 10 October 2025, and will close at 16h15 on 11 October 2025.
A full programme will be sent upon receipt of registration and payment.
Social Event: A Cocktail event will take place at the conference venue on Friday 10 October 2025 at 19h00.
*More information and dress code will be sent together with the final information package
Registration and fees paid in full on 15 July 2025.
The registration table will open from 07h00 on 10 October 2025 and the theme to be discussed.
Accommodation is available at the aha Kopanong Hotel. Accommodation booking and fees are for each delegate’s own account. We urge you to book as soon as possible to prevent disappointment. There are sharing of rooms or even units available with a reduction in fees.
Shuttle Service: The hotel provide a complimentary shuttle service from OR Tambo International Airport for delegates traveling per air from other provinces.
Please note that all attendees are responsible for booking their own accommodation. If you choose to stay at a different venue, please make sure you have transport arrangements to and from Kopanong.
Morning Session
08h00 – 09h00 | Registration, Welcome Refreshments, and Viewing of Exhibitions
09h00 – 09h10 | Welcome Address by Conference Chair
Topic 1: Pretrial Activities
09h15 – 09h45 | Legislation Regulating the Control and Management of Medical Records
09h50 – 10h20 | Roadblocks Complicating Access to Medical Records
10h25 – 11h25 | Panel Discussion – Addressing the Challenges While Protecting the Integrity of Medical Records: Approaches and Solutions
11h25 – 12h25 | Networking Lunch
12h30 – 12h45 | SAMLA National Chairperson’s Address
12h50 – 13h20 | Keynote Presentation – Balancing Justice and Care: Navigating the Medico-Legal Landscape to Support Quality Care
13h25 – 14h05 | Assessing Initial Merits in Medico-Legal Cases: Improving Legal Strategy and Outcome Prediction
14h10 – 14h40 | Understanding Particulars of Claim and Summons in Medico-Legal Cases: Essential Elements and Their Importance
14h40 – 15h10 | Coffee Break & Networking
Afternoon Session
Topic 2: Mediation
15h15 – 15h45 | The Advantages of Mediation in Medico-Legal Cases: Improving Efficiency, Reducing Litigation Costs, and Ensuring Fair Outcomes
15h50 – 16h30 | From Pilot to Practice: Outcomes of the SAMLA Mediation Pilot Project in Medico-Legal Disputes
16h35 – 17h05 | Tackling Barriers to Effective Medico-Legal Mediation in South Africa: Approaches to Improve Access and Outcomes
17h10 – 17h20 | Recap & Closure
19h00 – 21h00 | Cocktail Reception – Sponsor Session
Morning Session
08h00 – 08h30 | Registration
08h30 – 09h00 | Keynote Presentation – Negligence in the Medico-Legal Field
Topic 3: Medico-Legal Trial Procedures
09h05 – 09h25 | Understanding the Role of Joint Minutes in Medico-Legal Cases: Practical Considerations for Successful Outcomes
09h25 – 09h45 | The Ethics of Expert Conduct in Court: Responsibilities and Challenges for Medico-Legal Professionals – A Case Study
Topic 4: Cerebral Palsy
09h45 – 10h10 | Examining the Causes of Cerebral Palsy and the Role of Healthcare Professionals
10h10 – 10h40 | Morning Break & Networking
Mid-Morning Session
10h40 – 10h50 | Sponsor Session
10h55 – 11h20 | Cerebral Palsy: Diagnosis, Types, and Classification Systems in the Medico-Legal Process and Life Span Needs
11h25 – 11h50 | Medical and Legal Challenges in Cerebral Palsy Litigation: Identifying Key Concerns Across Legal Stages Affecting Long-Term Outcomes
11h50 – 12h45 | Networking Lunch
Afternoon Session
Topic 5: Head Injuries
12h50 – 13h20 | Navigating the Medical Complexities of Head Injury Litigation
13h25 – 14h05 | The Face of the Healthcare System in South Africa
14h10 – 14h40 | Creating a Just and Safe Healthcare Environment: How Risk Management and Quality Care Can Minimise Litigation
14h40 – 15h00 | Coffee Break
Topic 6: The Decriminalisation of Medical Error
15h00 – 16h00 | Panel Discussion – The Decriminalisation of Medical Error
16h00 – 16h15 | Conference Wrap-Up & Closing Remarks
Henry, is an Adjunct Professor, a Doctor in Law and admitted attorney, who has been in the legal profession in excess of 45 years. He has a wide range of experience both in practice as well as, academically. He holds the degrees B. Proc, LLB, LLM and LLD (Univ. of Pretoria). He has published widely in a number of Law Journals.
He is the former Non-Executive President of the South African Medico Legal Association (“SAMLA”), past President of the Attorneys Association for the South Eastern Cape. Henry has provided training and conducted Work Shops on various topics for many organizations in South Africa, including the Law Society of South Africa, the National Association of Democratic Lawyers (“NADEL”) and the South African Medico-Legal Association (“SAMLA”). He has been a mentor and coach for many Candidate Legal Practitioners. He has also been a member of NADEL since 1989.
At present he is attached to the Nelson Mandela Law Clinic and the Nelson Mandela University. He has a passion for Medical law, Ethics and Constitutional law. Henry is also an accredited Mediator and has successfully overseen a fair number of RAF matters and Medical Negligence disputes.
Prof Ethelwynn Stellenberg is:
• An Emeritus Associate Professor: Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University
• Lifetime member of the International Society for Quality in Health Care’s Academy of Quality and Safety in Health Care (IAQS)
• Fellow of the Academy of Nursing South Africa (ANSA)
• National Chairperson: South African Medico-Legal Association
• Board Director: The Council for Health Service Accreditation of Southern Africa
• Member of the Nursing Education Association (NEA)
She was a National Health Minister’s appointment for the first board for the Office of Health Standards Compliance in South Africa in 2014 and reappointed for a second term of office.
She was the first researcher to lead a national research project to investigate malpractice litigation in Nursing practice in South Africa. Her continued research focus is capacity building in leadership and management with the prime focus of improving the quality of healthcare and decreasing adverse events in health institutions.
Her practice includes twenty years in the clinical field and 26 years as an academic. Currently as the chairperson of the South African Medico-Legal Association (SAMLA), she is actively busy in developing medico-legal practitioners through a foundation programme in medico-legal practice, workshops and fire-side chats.
Trevor Frankish has been actively involved in two mediation pilot projects initiated by the South African Medico-Legal Association in 2019. The pilot projects were conducted with the Road Accident Fund and a provincial health department. Mediation has continued beyond the pilot projects and is increasingly being incorporated into formal dispute resolution within the medical negligence and personal injury spheres. Trevor will share the progression of mediation from pilot project towards mainstream dispute resolution in these areas as well as the outcomes and learnings.
Trevor is registered as a specialist in Family Medicine with the Health Professions Council of SA and holds a M Sc (Med) degree in Bioethics and Health Law. He holds a certificate in Foundations of Medico-Legal Practice (UCT and SA Medico-Legal Association) as well as a certificate in Commercial and Health Sector Mediation through Mediation in Motion Training (UCT-accredited).
He is registered with SAMLA as a mediator and has actively participated in mediations of alleged medical negligence matters and civil claims. He served as one of the two SAMLA representatives on the Gauteng High Court Mediation Implementation Committee leading up to the Gauteng High Court Directive of April 2025 and court-annexed mediations. He is a member of the Executive Committee of Mediation in Motion Mediators NPO. He serves on Professional Conduct Committees of Inquiry of the Health Professions Council of SA from time to time.
His work experience includes working as a medical officer in a rural district hospital, as a locum general practitioner and holding various management positions within both the public and private healthcare sectors.
Dr Meshack Mbokota is a medical doctor with over 34 years of dedicated service to the health needs of my patients, and I have contributed in various capacities to the medical profession. Owing to his untainted interest in women health, he currently practices in Pretoria as Specialist Aesthetic/Cosmetic Gynaecologist.
MEDICAL TRAINING Since he became qualified as a medical doctor at the University of Natal in 1991, his passion for affecting women’s health, uniquely saw him through his specialist medical program which he completed in 1999 and became a fellow of the College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologist South Africa.
WORK EXPERIENCE
He started Dr M Mbokota Inc in 1999 and worked in private practice in Tzaneen until 2004; he is one of the Founder Directors of Tzaneen Mediclinic in 2002. From March 2004 to April 2005, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Letaba Hospital, a position he left to become the head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and principal specialist at Witbank Hospital. His desire for innovation and need for excellent delivery of high-end medical services to his patients necessitated his return to private practice in November 2006 where he returned to Pretoria and remain here to date.
Between 2007 and 2012, he served as a part- time consultant at Medunsa, now Sefako Makgatho University, where he was responsible for teaching the final year students in Obstetrics and Gynaecology. He was a Board member of the South African Medical Association (SAMA), served as the chair of the Constitutional committee and later the specialist private practice committee. He was on the board of the Health and Medical Publishing Group (HMPG), a subsidiary of SAMA responsible for publishing 80% of South Africa’s medical journals until December 2018.
He completed a Msc in health systems management with the University of Liverpool in 2016, where his dissertation investigated, “How private health care professionals could be utilised in the implementation of the NHI in South Africa”.
INTEREST AND PASSION IN MEDICINE
He is skilled and experienced in gynaecology with a particular interest in aesthetic/cosmetic gynaecology including Medico-legal aspects of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. He also has an unadulterated interest in Gynaecological Surgery majoring in reconstructive gynaecological surgery and aesthetics. His passion is to see woman become happy with their bodies every day through aesthetic gynaecological practice.
Dr Herman Edeling obtained his M.B.,B.Ch. Degree at the University of the
Witwatersrand in 1975. In 1992 he qualified as a neurosurgeon with Fellowship
of the College of Surgeons of South Africa. In 2009 he obtained the ABIME
(American Board of Independent Medical Examiners) CIME (Certified
Independent Medical Examiner) qualification. In 2016 he qualified as a DISAC
(South African Dispute Settlement Accreditation Council) accredited mediator
by completing the UCT/MiM Commercial and Health Sector Mediation training.
He practised as a GP in private practice for 10 years, and as a neurosurgeon in
private practice for 16 years. Since 2008 he has limited his practice to
consulting and medico-legal neurosurgery.
He served SAMLA (South African Medico Legal Association) as director from
2005 to 2020, in various capacities as deputy chairperson, faculty principal,
clinical negligence director and mediation director, and in 2020 was awarded
honorary life membership. In SAMLA he led the development of a series of
pioneering UCT-partnered postgraduate training courses in medico-legal
practice; guidelines and protocols for medical mediation; clinical negligence
mediation pilot projects with provincial departments of health; and the SAMLARAF
personal injury mediation pilot project.
He has also served the HPCSA-RAF Appeal Tribunals as member and as
chairperson; as well as the Association for the Protection of Road Accident
Victims (APRAV) as chairperson of the Solutions Task Team Medical
Committee.
He has co-authored three publications in peer reviewed journals on serious
injury determination, the narrative test and the functioning of HPCSA appeal
tribunals. He has written thousands of medico-legal reports and has testified in
court as an expert witness in hundreds of matters. He has successfully
mediated more than 40 medico-legal disputes.
He is passionate about medical science, ethical practice and the promotion of
mutual respect and understanding. He believes in the capacity of the mediation
process to resolve conflict by harnessing the power of constructive selfdetermination
of the parties to the dispute.
Graham qualified as a doctor at the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa and went on to qualify as an obstetrician and gynaecologist there; he subsequently completed their masters in bioethics. Prior to moving to the UK in 2002, where he works for the Medical Protection Society as a full time medico-legal consultant and is now leads on Medical Services for South Africa, he was an associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Pretoria and was also the founding head of the faculty’s Bioethics Department.
Ian Dutton
Acting Judge of the High Court of South Africa;
Advocate of the High Court of the Republic of South Africa – 1997 to present;
Qualified Commercial Mediator: The University of Cape Town;
Accredited Mediator: Mediation in Motion; Member: The Society of Advocates of KwaZulu-Natal – 1997 to present
Committee Member: Mensa KZN
Committee Member:
In House Attorney: The AIDS Law Project, Centre for Applied Legal Studies, The University of the Witwatersrand
Member: The World Association of Medical Lawyers
Member: The International Bar Association
Member: The Royal Society of Medicine | Member: The American College of Legal Medicine
Convenor: South African Medico-Legal Coalition Task Team for the Private Sector – 2017 to 2019
Member of the National Executive Committee of the South African Medico-Legal Association – 2016 to 2019
Board Member: The South African Medico-Legal Association – 2016 to 2019
Member of Faculty: Postgraduate Certificate Training Course in Medico-Legal Practice presented by SAMLA and the University of Cape Town – 1997 to 2019
Chairperson: The South African Medico-Legal Association, KwaZulu-Natal Branch – 2016 to 2019
Editor, The South African Medico-Legal Reports: 2024
Standard Development Coordinator, COHSASA | Healthcare Researcher & Quality Specialist
Dr Chioma Oghenetega is a researcher and healthcare quality specialist with expertise in data analysis, healthcare standards, and family-centered care in critical care settings. With a strong background in research methodology and quality assurance, Dr Oghenetega has contributed to the validation of assessment tools, including the Measure of Processes of Care for Service Providers in Adult Settings (MPOC-SP(A)). Additionally, Dr Oghenetega has played a key role in the review and revision of two sets of healthcare facility standards: COHSASA’s healthcare facility standards for inpatient and ambulatory care and Palliative Care Standards, which were awarded accreditation by the International Society of Quality in Health Care External Evaluation Association (ISQuaEEA) ensuring alignment with global best practices in quality and patient safety.
Dr Ravin Ramdass is a qualified Specialist Family Physician and a Practising Advocate of the High Court of South Africa for almost 16 years. He practised medicine for 22 years in both the public and private sectors. He holds several Degrees, Diplomas and Certificates, including an MMed, an LLB, a Certification in Medical Law and an MA in Philosophy. He presently practices at the Pietermaritzburg Bar. He has authored many papers and has contributed to several publications in medicine, ethics and interfaith dialogue. He is certified by the American Board of Impairment Medical Evaluators. He is the author of the book published by Juta, “Medico-legal aspects of Cerebral Palsy”. In his career as an Advocate, he has been involved in well over 300 medico-legal cases. He has a keen interest in medical ethics and social activism and presented the declaration on Apartheid at the World Conference on Religion for Peace in Nairobi.
4.2 December 1978 I commenced my candidate attorneyship with Savage Jooste & Adams Incorporated in Pretoria, and switched over to UNISA (studying part-time).
4.3 Obtained my B Proc degree through UNISA in 1981, and thereafter my LLB degree in 1983.
I was Chair of the Training Committee of the Pretoria Bar for many years, until I stepped down from that position a few years ago, but am still intimately involved, which includes my running the annual Pretoria Bar / Pretoria University Trial Advocacy Course.
10.2 I have agreed with Juta to author a book on the liability of attorneys for professional negligence, likely to be called Legal Malpractice (the idea is to thereafter do a book dealing with medical negligence, entitled Medical Malpractice), although I have not yet seriously commenced with the work. I am waiting for a gap in my schedule to do that.
Legal Background
Advocate Alan Nelson SC qualified as a lawyer in 1975, attaining his BA LLB Law degree, Cum Laude, at Stellenbosch University, after which he qualified as an Attorney before becoming an Advocate of the Cape High Court in 1978. Silk status was conferred upon him in 1993 and he has been a Senior Advocate for more than thirty years. Prior to becoming a full-time mediator, Alan ran a highly successful legal practise as a trial lawyer.
Alan has served as an acting judge of the Cape High Court. As a Judge he was given special permission to mediate matters and encouraged many litigants to successfully mediate their disputes.
He was recently selected as one of five candidates for the position of Chief Justice of South Africa by a select committee of imminent persons appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Proponent for facilitative mediation
Alan has studied and acquired both local and international qualifications as a facilitative mediator. Over the past ten years he has become one of South Africa’s leading proponents of this form of conflict resolution.
For the past ten years he has been training mediators under the auspices of the University of Cape Town (UCT) as part of the UCT Law@work education programme.
Alan has addressed more than fifty professional audiences on mediation.
He serves on four mediation panels and mediates on a full-time basis.
Alan has been elected as the President of Motion Mediators which he co-founded 12 years ago, and which has grown to become the largest mediation organization in Africa.
Dr. Gillian Saloojee is a paediatric physiotherapist with a special interest in working with children and young adults with disabilities, specifically cerebral palsy, and their families living in rural resource-constrained African settings. She is the Founder and the former Executive Director of Malamulele Onward, a non-profit organization providing therapy services and caregiver training to children with cerebral palsy living in poor, rural areas of Southern Africa. She has run many Introductory Courses on CP for therapists and trained hundreds of therapists.
Gillian currently works for UNICEF as an early intervention consultant in a large pilot project in Peru, Bulgaria and Uganda. She remains involved in several research projects focused on children and youth with cerebral palsy and her work has been published in several international peer-reviewed journals. Over the past 20 years, Gillian has completed medico-legal assessments and reports on children with brain injury for both defence and plaintiffs and she serves as a Trustee for 7 trusts for children with medico-legal settlements.
Gillian is the current Chairperson of the Southern African Academy of Childhood Disability (SA-ChilD); a member of the Executive Committee of the International Alliance of Academies of Childhood Disability (IAACD) and member of the IAACD Best Practice Committee. She also serves as a Board Member of the Bophelo Day Care Centre in Braamfontein.
Dr Jayshina (Jay) Punwasi is the Chief Operational Officer and Senior Manager Medical Services at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Apart from her medical qualification from the University of Cape Town, Dr Punwasi holds post-graduate qualifications in Business Administration from Wits Business School, and Public Health from the University of the Witwatersrand. She has also been trained in Medicolegal Mediation and Business and Life Coaching making her well-rounded and seasoned healthcare manager and change agent.
Careerwise, Dr Punwasi has worked at and / or managed various public hospitals in Gauteng, most-notably serving as the Clinical Director and Senior Manager Medical Services at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital is Gauteng making her one of few public sector managers to lead two premier clinical and academic hospitals in the country.
Dr Punwasi has also had some interesting jobs outside of Medicine. As a medical student, she was a backstage and duty manager at Baxter Theatre, and post MBA was a management consultant for an international firm working in the areas of healthcare and medical devices, finance and African markets. While these opportunities helped her develop as a manager, her main focus was always getting the skills and experience needed to improve the South African Healthcare system where she now lives her motto of “being the change she wants to see in the world.”
Dr Punwasi also plays a leadership role within the South African Medical Association (SAMA) and in NGOs and PBOs that align with her interests of value-based education and simple living and higher thinking. On a personal note, Dr Punwasi is the mother of two teenage daughters and the wife of University Professor.
MBCHB, Masters in Public Health, MSc (Microbiology), BA Hons (Biology), Post Grad Dip (Health systems management and leadership).
Dr Mndaweni is a public health advocate with extensive experience in public healthcare. Her public health career and leadership journey is imbued in entitiesshe has served in previous roles including amongst others, Deputy Director-General: District Health Services, Chief Director: Strategic Health Programmes in KwaZulu-Natal Province, Department of Health.
She held several portfolios with the University Research Corporation as Technical Advisor and Chief of Party, also worked as Deputy Chief of Party with Right To Care. Her responsibilities included oversight and support of programme implementation in several Southern African Development Countries. Her areas of focus and expertise are public health policy, strategic health programmes implementation and development of quality improvement strategies.
She holds a BA Degree in Biology from Knox College, Illinois, USA; a Master’s in Medical Science Microbiology and MBCHB from Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University; a Management Development Course for Healthcare Professionals from Wits Business School and Duke University; a Post Graduate Diploma in Health SystemsManagement Executive Leadership and a Master’s in Public Health from the University of Pretoria.
Dr Mndaweni is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Office of Health Standards Compliance (OHSC). The OHSC is an independent regulator for quality and safety in the healthcare sector.
Registration and fees paid in full on 15 July 2025.
