Trial Report: Four

This report covers the testimony of 29 October and 1 November. The trial was halted on Monday to give the prosecution a chance to consult with two witnesses: Tim McGibbon of the US DEA who was responsible for conducting extensive forensic tests on the ecstasy, and former Office for Serious Economic Offences investigator Etienne Lamprechts.

Testimony this week continued to provide details of the ecstasy and mandrax manufactured at the front company Delta G Scientific.

On Friday 29 October Dr Johan Koekemoer, chief researcher and later director of research at Delta G Scientific from April 1986 to 1997, gave testimony. He spoke of the manufacture of ecstasy at the front company under the codename Project Baxil from about June 1992 to January 4, 1994.

Koekemoer told the court that security at Delta G was extremely tight, laboratory access was strictly controlled and limited to senior staff and security breaches were dealt with in serious vein. The need-to-know principle was so strictly enforced that all but a handful of those directly involved knew that Project Baxil was about Ecstasy production. The rest of the staff, including junior members of staff involved in the project, were told they were making rocket fuel for France.

Koekemoer also spoke of smaller SADF projects, such as small-scale manufacture of Blue Nitrate and various toxic substances, including a heart poison similar to digitalis.

The MDMA made on large scale by Delta G was produced by a unique method, developed by Hennie Jordaan, a researcher at the company. The start-up chemicals were provided by the procurement front, Organochem under the guise of being chemicals needed for the production of an insecticide. Dr. Philip Mijburgh, MD of Delta G had told Koekemoer that the Ecstasy project was to be handled with the utmost confidentiality, on orders of the Surgeon General, General Knobel, the minimum number of staff were to be involved and the end product would be used as an incapacitant for riot control.

Koekemoer never believed Ecstasy could be used as a crowd control agent and was deeply concerned about the possibility of abuse of the substance.

Koekemoer testified that he personally delivered the final product to the basement of the offices of Medchem in Pretoria, Medchem's Managing Director was Dr. Philip Mijburgh. On at least two occasions when deliveries were made, Basson was in Mijburgh's office.

A young pharmacist who was recruited to work at Delta G after completing his national military service, Steven Beukes also testified saying he'd known Basson since volunteering for Special Forces as a national serviceman in June 1984. The Special Forces Medical Unit then included nine doctors and two pharmacists and operated from Special Forces Headquarters. Beukes told the court that the drugs Scoline and Ketelaar were routinely included in the medical supplies packed in the bags the doctors would take with them on Special Force operations - along with morphine, antibiotics and the saws they might need for behind-the-lines surgery. Scoline and Ketelaar have been named in the charge sheet as the drugs used by Special Forces in overdose to murder people who posed a security threat to the country.

In 1985, Beukes was asked by Basson to set up a facility to make Mandrax, including a laboratory where the base compound could be granulated. He made 100 000 tablets, marked MX on one side and RL (for Roussel Laboratories, legal manufacturers of Mandrax) on the other. All active ingredients were supplied by Basson to Beukes. Basson's defence team has argued that the mandrax tablets produced by Beukes were in fact placebos, used by Special Forces to infiltrate drugs and arms routes used by the military wing of the ANC.

Jerry Brandt, the first of the State's secret witnesses testified on Monday 1 November. Brandt was the managing director of Organochem, the front company responsible for procurement for Delta G Scientific. Brandt was tasked by Basson to procure the formula for the manufacture of ecstasy. All substances supplied to Delta G by Brand for making Ecstasy were delivered to a basement room at Medchem's offices in Centurion during 1992. Brandt spoke at length about the relationship between Basson and Solly Pienaar. He claimed that Pienaar was a friend of Nelson Mandela, Gra�a Machel and Joachim Chissano. He spoke of a trip undertaken by Pienaar, Basson and himself to establish a bank in Mozambique.

As the trial progresses it becomes increasingly clear that Basson was involved in a number of business deals through a network of companies related in some way to the project. Basson's defence has mentioned his links to the ANC and particularly to former President Nelson Mandela on a number of occasions during the past two weeks of testimony. These claims have not been challenged, nor have they been tested and it is unclear what the defence's intention is.

Centre for Conflict Resolution, UCT, Private Bag, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa Tel: (27) 21-4222512 Fax: (27) 21-4222622 Email: [email protected]