Marléne Burger - Secrets & Lies: Wouter Basson and South Africas Chemical and Biological Warfare Programme

Wouter Basson
and South Africas
Chemical and Biological
Warfare Programme

Marlne Burger & Chandr Gould

Published by Zebra Press
an imprint of Random House Struik (Pty) Ltd
Reg. No. 1966/003153/07
Wembley Square, First Floor, Solan Road, Gardens, Cape Town 8001
PO Box 1144, Cape Town 8000, South Africa

www.zebrapress.co.za

First published 2002
This ebook published 2012

Publication Zebra Press 2002
Text Marlne Burger and Chandr Gould 2002

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owners.

PUBLISHER: Marlene Fryer
MANAGING EDITOR: Robert Plummer
EDITOR: Frances Perryer
TEXT DESIGNER: Natascha Adendorff
INDEXER: Frances Perryer
PHOTO RESEARCHER: Carmen Swanepoel

ISBN 978 1 86872 341 6 (print)
ISBN 978 1 77022 248 9 (ePub)
ISBN 978 1 77022 249 6 (PDF)

PUBLISHERS NOTE

This book records, as fairly and accurately as possible, details of South Africas chemical and biological warfare programme, and, specifically, the public face of investigations into alleged abuse of Project Coast. Because of their involvement in such proceedings, the authors are in a position to both comment on them and share with readers their personal insights, based on a wealth of information at their disposal. This book is not intended to be, and should not be read as, the definitive account of any of the events concerned. Views expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of the publisher.

This book is dedicated to those who strive continually
and courageously to rid the world of chemical and biological warfare,
no matter where it is hidden, or by whom and to all the
victims of military secrets and political lies.

CHANDR GOULD is a senior researcher in the Crime and Justice Programme of the Institute for Security Studies. From 1996 to 1999 she worked as an investigator and evidence analyst for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and was one of the investigators responsible for the TRCs investigation into Project Coast. Throughout the Basson trial, she was responsible for compiling weekly reports on proceedings as part of the Centre for Conflict Resolutions chemical and biological warfare research project.

MARLNE BURGER was a journalist for more than 30 years and was a news editor at The Friend, Eastern Province Herald and the Sunday Times before becoming a freelance writer and editor. From October 1999 to April 2002, she attended the trial of Dr Wouter Basson on behalf of the Centre for Conflict Resolution.

TEN YEARS HAVE passed since Wouter Basson was acquitted of the criminal charges brought against him and Secrets and Lies was originally published. In that time, Basson continued to practise medicine at a private hospital in Cape Town, regale his friends and associates in the Boland winelands and cock a snoot at those who sought his demise. He remains unapologetic about his role as head of the chemical and biological weapons programme, as clearly demonstrated in his interview for filmmaker Bob Coens 2009 documentary Anthrax War. Coen puts it to Basson that There was some talk about an ethnic weapon, Project Coast working on what was called the black bomb. Basson responds, That was great, ja; that was the most fun Ive had in my life, before going on to talk about the intention to develop an anti-fertility vaccine for black women.

Bassons arrogance is born of impunity. He is yet to be, and may never be, held accountable for the activities of the apartheid chemical and biological warfare programme. The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) has been unsuccessfully pursuing disciplinary action against Basson for more than two years. The case has been bedevilled by delays, weak witnesses and legal challenges brought by Basson, the details of which are mind-numbing. At the time of writing, we still await an outcome. Basson and his lawyers have tried their damnedest to have the charges by the HPCSA dropped, describing his more than decade-long struggle against being held to account as like eating an elephant. In early 2012, he told the media, This was a hell of a long time ago. Nobody remembers, and Im not sure that anybody cares.

Like me, Marlne Burger would have cared. She also would have liked to have seen the end of the process, if indeed there ever will be one, but it dragged on too long. Marlne died an early death in 2009. She was an exceptional investigative journalist whose tenacity, curiosity and unbelievable memory for detail meant that she was able to continue to follow stories long after they had faded from public attention. Marlne spent most of the three years that it took for Basson to be tried sitting on hard court benches in the Pretoria High Court. She took copious notes, and closely watched the expressions and body language of the defence team, prosecutors, accused and witnesses. Every evening after a day in court we would speak on the phone for hours while she passionately described the days events.

Through this book she forged a close relationship with our publisher, Zebra Press, and went on to edit nineteen more non-fiction South African titles: 32 Battalion by Piet Nortje; The Battle for Zimbabwe by Geoff Hill; Winnie Mandela: A Life by Ann-Mari du Preez Bezdrob; The Road to Democracy by the South African Democracy Education Trust; Memoirs by Ahmed Kathrada; Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC by William Gumede; What Happens After Mugabe? by Geoff Hill; At Thy Call We Did Not Falter by Clive Holt; Brett Kebble: The Inside Story by Barry Sergeant; Against the Grain by Geoff Nyarota; Mom, Interrupted by Debbie Adlington and Gerda Kruger; Dances with Devils by Jacques Pauw; Through the Darkness by Judith Todd; Total Onslaught/Totale Aanslag by De Wet Potgieter; The Making of a Nation by Peter Joyce; White Power by Christi van der Westhuizen; A Life in Transition by Alex Boraine; The Mbeki Legacy by Brian Pottinger; and Of Tricksters, Tyrants and Turncoats by Max du Preez.

Project Coast was not the largest or most sophisticated of the state-run chemical and biological weapons programmes. Nor, thankfully, did it result in large numbers of casualties. It is, however, an important example of what happens when a state is existentially threatened. The way in which Basson and his associates managed to manipulate the system also shows what happens when secrecy and subterfuge trump oversight. I am grateful to our publisher, Zebra Press, for making this electronic version of Secrets and Lies available so that we dont forget.

CHANDR GOULD
2012

UNTIL THE END of January 1997, neither of us had heard the name of Dr Wouter Basson, or paid particular attention to sporadic mention by the media of something called Project Coast. Since then, both have influenced our lives in ways we could never have imagined, and we have learned more about chemical and biological warfare and covert military projects than the average person ever really needs to know.