Trial Report: 20a

This report covers the period Friday 12 May - Wednesday 24 May 2000.

Friday 12 May 2000

The cross examination of Special Forces and Barnacle operator, Trevor Floyd continued. Floyd told the defence counsel, Adv. Jaap Cilliers that when he joined the SA Defence Force as a young man, he was told he would be trained to kill people, and during the late 1970s and 1980s, South Africa was at war, not only in Angola and Namibia, but in South Africa itself, as proved by the successive states of emergency. Trevor Floyd was never told by anyone that he should not kill his country's enemies wherever he found them. With regard to Floyd's earlier testimony that he had collected a jar of ointment to smear on the car door handle of the car belonging to Peter Kalangula from Basson, the defence counsel stated that Basson denies giving Floyd ointment.

Former Civil Co-operation Bureau operative, Abraham (Slang) Van Zyl testified about the attempted intimidation of Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 1989 and the conspiracy to murder former Minister of Justice, Dullah Omar. Van Zyl told the court how he came to be recruited into the covert SADF unit after being approached by one of his colleagues in the police. Van Zyl was a policeman at the Brixton Murder and Robbery unit prior to his recruitment. Van Zyl said that the CCB's primary task was the "maximum disruption of enemies of the state, including eliminations". Intelligence gathering was very much a secondary task. "Enemies" were defined as individuals or organisations actively engaged in opposing apartheid - critics of the government of the day did not qualify. Van Zyl was assigned to Region 6 (South Africa), with the Western Cape his particular field of operation.

Van Zyl described how the CCB operated, how orders were given, targets selected and authorized for 'elimination'. Van Zyl said that the attempted murder of Dullah Omar was his second project as a CCB member and that he had used Cape Town gangster, the late Edward (Peaches) Gordon to carry out the operation. The initial intention was to murder Omar with a silenced makarov pistol but this plan had fallen through because Omar was difficult to monitor, kept irregular hours and was seldom alone. In August Omar had a heart attack and was recovering at home. Gordon told Van Zyl that he could get access to Omar's heart medication.

Van Zyl testified that whenever poison was needed, the regional co-ordinator of the CCB would liaise with "the suppliers". Van Zyl discussed Omar's medication with CCB operatives, Staal Burger and Christo Brits and Gordon was instructed to get the tablets. At the end of August, Van Zyl handed two pills to an unknown agent from the "medical regiment" at a cell meeting with Burger and Brits. On September 13, a CCB agent known to Van Zyl as Nick met Van Zyl at a hotel near the Johannesburg airport and gave him a small bottle of powder. It had not been possible to reproduce Omar's medication, but this powder, if sprinkled over his food, would kill him in such a way that he would appear to have had another heart attack, Van Zyl was told.

The powder was handed to Gordon by Van Zyl but Gordon failed to get access to Omar's food and Gordon was instructed to destroy the powder and the makarov a week later.

Van Zyl also testified about the placement of the baboon foetus in Archbishop Tutu's garden in August 1989. Van Zyl, Ferdi Barnard, Edward Gordon and one other unidentified operator drove to the Bishopscourt residence from the Cape Sun, where Barnard knocked eight nails, previously treated by a witchdoctor, into trees along the driveway, and Van Zyl hung the jam jar containing the foetus in a tree near the front door.

Van Zyl quit the CCB in October 1989. All operators had been ordered to finalise their projects by September 1, 1989, as FW de Klerk was replacing PW Botha as president, and he "did not yet know of the CCB's existence". Until he had been informed, no further operations were to be launched.

Monday 15 May 2000

Former CCB operative, Petrus Jacobus Botes took the stand and told the court about his involvement in the covert unit. Botes, who was a member of the inner-circle of the orgainsation told the court about the structure of the CCB and the way in which it operated. He told the court that chemical substances could be obtained via the counter-intelligence offer, Danie Phaal or the medical co-ordinator. Botes knew three medical co-ordinators - De Wet, who was not an doctor, Gerrie Odendaal and Frans Brink (not his real name). Botes said that operators could get anything they needed, from substances that would take effect within minutes to long-term toxins which would strike within hours, days, even two to three months, depending on how much time the operator needed to exit the area of operation. Requests for toxins would be made at the final briefing and approved by the general before being passed to the medical co-ordinator.

Botes was given poison on three occasions. Once he received a small brown eyedropper-type bottle containing a clear liquid. He was told it was tasteless and odourless and that a single drop would kill a man. Twice he was given ampoules of clear liquid. He never knew exactly where the substances came from, but had been told frequently that "Doc Wouter's team" had the ability to provide anything that might be needed.

In August 1989, Botes was given four brown glass jars by Joe Verster and told that two contained cholera bacteria, the others yellow fever germs. Botes went to Namibia to identify opportunities for anti-Swapo operations and while there, received the order from Verster to contaminate the water supply at two refugee camps outside Windhoek with cholera - and yellow fever.

In cross-examination, Cilliers pointed out that according to Basson, any plan to place yellow fever in the drinking water would have been futile, since it cannot be spread other than by a mosquito bite.

Botes gave the bottles from Verster to two of his operators, Charlie Krause and Jose Daniels. He was not convinced the cholera plan would work, since he had established that the water in the camp reservoir was from the municipal supply and thus chlorinated, but Krause and Daniels in due course reported they had polluted the water and returned the empty containers to him. He destroyed them.

Cilliers formally placed on record Basson's denial that he ever supplied Botes with any toxic substances.

The next witness was Rita Engelbrecht, ex-schoolteacher, housewife, bank clerk and Military Intelligence employee in civilian capacity. She was recruited in 1984 and involved in personal security clearances, including background investigations. Specifically, she was involved in the clearances of Project Coast employees, which were at the highest level - orders from the top were that all Project Coast employees had to be totally beyond reproach. She was aware that Coast was the chemical and biological warfare programme.

From the end of 1987 she worked out of the Infladel offices in this capacity. Infladel was controlled by Basson and her colleagues were Tjaart Viljoen, Antoinette Lourens, Johnny Koortzen and Marie van Graan. From time to time she also had contact with Brian Davey and other doctors connected to the project. She also got involved in security clearances for employees at the front companies - Roodeplaat Breeding Enterprise, Roodeplaat Research Laboratories, Delta G Scientific, D John Truter and Protechnik.

Engelbrecht testified about the poisoned beer that Theron was to pass to Danie Phaal to be placed at taxi ranks in the Eastern Cape. Despite an objection by Adv. Cilliers, the judge allowed the witness to testify that Theron had also told her, at some stage, that she should not imagine if you murdered someone, death came quickly. It could take up to 15 minutes, he told her, for someone to die. He also told her that his work included flying out to sea and throwing the bodies of terrorists into the ocean and that he was extremely good at giving injections to terrorists, as Dr Wouter Basson had taught him how to do so.

Tuesday 16 May 2000

After a short cross examination of Engelbrecht the state called former Military Intelligence operative, Jan Anton Nieuwoudt. Nieuwoudt was responsible for developing dossiers on potential targets for much of his career. Nieuwoudt also liaised directly with the head of Barnacle and with operators on the ground, supplying information about identified targets to them. For a period of about a year (approximately May 1983 to mid-1984) he lived and worked closely with Trevor Floyd. He is aware that poison was used by Barnacle operators for eliminations. Nieuwoudt testified that proposals for the elimination of targets were routinely submitted to the Chief SADF and on at least one occasion, also to the Minister of Defence.

Nieuwoudt specialised in interrogations and was involved in "many" after being trained both locally and abroad in this field. He had excellent equipment at his disposal, including a variety of electronic surveillance equipment in a mobile caravan. He is part author of the SADF manual on interrogation techniques.

He was present on one occasion, at Fontana, when chemical substances were used during an interrogation. The victim was a policeman from Nelspruit by the name of Msibi, who was suspected of being an ANC supporter/agent. The Security Police conducted the interrogation but a Special Forces operator, whom Nieuwoudt assumed was a medical doctor, administered the substance by injection.

Nieuwoudt testified that while working for the Directorate of Covert Collection he had ordered fellow agent, Henri van der Westhuizen to buy cans of beer in Swaziland. These he handed to Dave Drew or Mielie Prinsloo at Special Forces Headquarters to be laced with poison. The poisoned beers were brought back to Nieuwoudt by Dirk Booysen, who pointed out tiny spots of solder on the base. They were barely visible, but Nieuwoudt nevertheless painstakingly filed the solder until no trace of tampering could be seen. He passed the beer on to an agent of his in Swaziland. At a subsequent debriefing, the agent reported to him that it had been given to Knox Dlamini. After being "nagged" for three weeks by Booysen to do so, Nieuwoudt filed a report on how the poison had worked, based on what his agent told him.

Henri van der Westhuizen was called next. He joined Military Intelligence in 1981. At the end of 1986/beginning of 1987 he was posted to Speskop, working for Mielie Prinsloo. Here his job was to prepare target dossiers, the final step before an elimination was authorised. He gave duplicates of some files to CCB operator Pieter Botes. Van der Westhuizen then joined the Directorate of Covert Collection in the Terrorism section. He confirms that Nieuwoudt once ordered him to buy beer in Swaziland so that it could be "prepared" with poison, but claims the beers he bought "never went anywhere". He says he kept them locked up in a cupboard in his office and that is where they stayed, along with six cans of South African-bought beer - also Castle. Nieuwoudt once showed him other cans of beer which he said had been poisoned, pointing out the tiny soldered holes.

Wednesday 17 May 2000

Hearing of testimony was suspended for the day while argument was presented on the State request for the court to travel to Jacksonville, Florida, to hear the testimony of attorney David Webster.

The judge gave his ruling on Monday morning, May 22.

Friday 19 May 2000

Bio-engineer and former managing Director of Protechnik, Jan Lourens took the stand. Lourens said that he had been based at Special Forces headquarters as a member of the Special Operations unit, a unit commanded by Basson. Lourens told the court that there were laboratories at Special Forces headquarters one of which was the initial production facility for CR gas.

From 1985 Lourens did a great deal of work with RRL in the bio-medical support sphere, providing apparatus needed for experiments, such as a primate restraint chair and a mechanical arm that could be used to extract blood from a distance. He was also responsible for installation of the filtration system in the RRL toxic laboratory.

When Lourens became involved with Delta G Scientific, it was still housed in a couple of offices in the Pretoria suburb of Val de Grace. While there, construction of the Midrand plant began and Mijburgh invited Lourens to serve as project manager, which he did for about 18 months.

Delta G had two manufacturing plants as well as a pilot plant or pre-production facility and a large laboratory complex in addition to the usual administrative offices and workshops.When construction ended, Lourens was given the option of staying on as resident site engineer, but the prospect held little attraction and instead, he discussed with Mijburgh the possibility of removing the defensive chemical leg of the project from Delta G and running it himself. Mijburgh agreed and at the end of 1986, with funding supplied by Basson, Lourens set up System Research Developments in Strydom Park, Randburg.

The company grew rapidly. Defensive chemical work concentrated on filters and detection apparatus while SRD Electronics was involved with surveillance equipment and debugging devices. A mechanical workshop operated under the name of QB Laboratories. In March 1988, Lourens left SRD and Johnny Koortzen took over from him. By that time, the defensive side of the business had grown significantly, with textiles, clothing and filtration systems all being tested against genuine chemical substances rather than simulated tests being carried out. Lourens then became managing director of Protechnik until March 1993.

The mechanical division of SRD supplied custom-made items which Lourens and EMLC armourer, Philip Morgan called "applicators". These were instruments that could be used to administer chemical substances.The need for such items was identified by Basson and as a rule, finished products were delivered to him by Lourens. Once or twice, Lourens delivered products to Dr Andre Immelman at RRL, but most of the work he did in conjunction with RRL was with James Davies.

Payment for these items was covered by a regular monthly fee to QB Laboratories and a "wide range" of applicators was made. The earliest were screwdrivers, either springloaded or containing a low explosive charge which released the chemical substance on impact. Other items included a combination spoon and knife, umbrellas, walking sticks, a folding knife-spoon which fit into a cigarette box, screwdrivers fitted with surgical hypodermic needles (one of which was fitted into a bicycle pump) and polycarbonate micro-balls coated with a chemical substance. Polycarbonate was virtually impossible to detect during an autopsy, Lourens was told and the micro-balls could not be detected by security X-Ray machines.

QB Laboratories also made signet rings with a secret compartment for poison, and these had a unique locking mechanism, designed by Morgan, which allowed Lourens, in court, to identify a signet ring used by Leslie Lesia against ANC operatives in exile in African states. A photograph of the ring was published in The Star during the legal wrangle between the now defunct Vrye Weekblad and Lothar Neethling over former Vlakplaas commander Dirk Coetzee's allegations that Neethling had supplied him with poison used to eliminate ANC activists.

In 1988/89 Lourens was sent to England by Basson to hand over an 'applicator' - an umbrella - to an operator. Two glass ampoules of colourless, watery liquid given to him by Philip Mijburgh - he says he must have been referred to Mijburgh by Basson in this regard - were taken to England by Lourens himself. He wrapped the ampoules in tissue paper and sealed plastic bags and packed them in his toiletry bag, which was in his hand luggage. Lourens told the court how he had met the operator and had shown him how to use the 'applicator'. In the process of doing so, some of the liquid from the ampoules had dropped onto his finger and he had licked his finger without thinking. Lourens cannot remember much about what happened next, but says he suffered vision impairment, began shivering and briefly lost consciousness. He drank some milk and Dettol which he found in the bathroom, and went to lie down. After about two hours, he felt fine. A document retrieved from one of Basson's trunks by investigators was shown to Lourens, who said he was seeing it for the first time. It deals with the symptoms of poisoning by SILATRANE, refers to Dr James Davies and Dr Andre Immelman and is signed by Dr Wynand Swanepoel. The symptoms match those experienced by Lourens at the cottage.

During cross examination, Cilliers placed on record Basson's formal denial that he ever sent Lourens to the UK with the poison umbrella. Furthermore, according to Basson, at the time the umbrella was still in development and could not have been used.

Monday 22 May 2000

Judge Willie Hartzenberg granted the State application to take the court to Florida in the US to hear the testimony of attorney David Webster and his wife, Jane. Hartzenberg said it was obvious that Webster's testimony was crucial in order to admit the huge volume of documents from his files as evidence in the case, and that he could "clearly" provide a great deal of relevant testimony. Justice required that the State application be granted and given the fact that the trial record already runs to some 6 000 pages and hundreds of exhibits totaling several thousand more, Hartzenberg believes he would be the best person to act as co-commissioner with a suitably qualified American judge.

The first witness of the day may, in terms of a court ruling, be referred to only as Mr Q. He currently has business contracts in various southern African states, is a former Selous Scout and has family living in a neigbouring state who could be targeted for reprisal if his identity were made public.

He told the court that when "things were difficult" in Zimbabwe in 1980, he came to South Africa to join EMLC, a "dedicated firm" which provided special equipment to the SADF's Special Forces. The head of EMLC, based at Speskop, was Sybie van der Spuy and it consisted of an electronics section, drawing office, mechanical workshop and library. There were a number of laboratories in the Speskop head office building but according to Mr Q, these were not staffed by EMLC.

Mr Q testified to knowing Basson, whom he saw "regularly" at both EMLC and other areas of Speskop. He knew him as a "military medical man" and also knew two or three of the doctors working under him, but had little to do with them. Occasionally, he visited the office of Dr Philip Mijburgh and recalls seeing a live black mamba there - for about two or three months.

His work consisted largely of producing silencers, special ammunition and magazines, modifying weapons (e.g. shortening the barrels) and timing mechanisms.

Mr Q was once called to Mijburgh's office and asked to drill a tiny hole in a can of Game orange cold drink. Mijburgh wanted the task done in his office rather than in the workshop and Mr Q obliged, drilling the hole on the seam of the can. A substance was then injected into the can and Mr Q closed the hole by soldering it. He did this on two or three different occasions and the holes were never visible.

Shortly before leaving EMLC at the end of 1987, Mr Q was called to General Kat Liebenberg's office and told to take a few weeks leave as there was a special project Liebenberg wanted him to work on at home. Mr Q was told Basson would come to his house and tell him what was required. The result was a walking stick which could fire a tiny polyurethane pellet - 3-4mm in diameter - which had a hole drilled in it that could contain a liquid or a powder. Mr Q assumed the walking stick would be used to shoot someone. Basson came to his home two or three times to check on his progress and give him guidelines.

Soon after completing this project, Mr Q was told by Basson that he was setting up a small facility like but separate from EMLC and invited him to go and work there. From January 1988, he did, in the basement of a building in Strydom Park, Randburg. Jan Lourens was the manager of SRD and Mr Q shared the basement with QB Laboratory, which was supplying teargas canisters to the police.

Mr Q was told to draw up a list of machinery and equipment he would need and given a cheque by Lourens to purchase it.

In addition to modifying weapons and cars used by the medical staff from Speskop, Mr Q began making special applicators. The walking stick was the first. Screwdrivers followed - several examples handed to the court as exhibits on Friday were identified by Mr Q as his handiwork. The hollow handle contained a springloaded plunger that could suck up liquid through a small hole at the end of the screwdriver blade. The liquid would be released on impact if someone was jabbed with the screwdriver.The design was Mr Q's, as were trigger mechanisms for letter bombs also handed to the court on Friday.

The need for a specific applicator and specifications would be given to Mr Q by either Lourens or Basson and the finished products returned to one or the other. Basson gave Mr Q the specifications for the poison-tipped umbrella, of which only one was ever made. It had a springloaded plunger with four hypodermic needles at the tip, covered by a protective shield that retracted on impact, releasing the liquid inside.

Mr Q also made a signet ring to Basson's specifications. It had to have a secret compartment for powder. The ring used by Leslie Lesia and shown in a newspaper photograph in November 1990, was identified by Mr Q as the one he made. The prototype, which he had kept in his possession until it was turned over to the investigating team, was produced and filed as an exhibit in court today, along with a number of scale drawings of applicators which Mr Q says he designed. Mr Q gave the completed ring to Lourens. Among the other gadgets he manufactured was a blade, powered by a blank cartridge, which could fit into a box of 30 cigarettes and could also hold a small amount of liquid.

The next witness was Dirk Booysen, who was a teacher before joining the permanent force (Navy) in 1979. He worked for the Directorate Covert Collection until 1987, when he was seconded to Special Forces as DCC's liaison officer. It was his task to handle all Special Forces requests for "essential elements of intelligence" from DCC. His colleagues at Speskop were Colonel Mielie Prinsloo and Dave Drew. Special needs of Special Forces - cameras mounted in vehicles, false compartments, cans of Coca Cola, foreign coins with secret compartments - were routed through Booysen to Colonel Hekkies van Heerden during his tenure at Speskop from 1987 to 1989.

Erasmus Johannes Smit testified next. He joined the SADF in 1959, served as an artillery man and was a founder member of both 1 Parachute Battalion and Special Forces. He joined the CCB in late 1987/early 1988. He knows Basson as a medical doctor from Special Operations. His primary role with the CCB was security but he was temporarily seconded to Region 6 when serious disciplinary problems were being experienced "because SADF standards were not being applied" and ran a number of agents himself. He worked with the CCB production team several times. His administrative name was Nick Nienaber, his operational name Lawrence.

Smit was assigned to take to Cape Town the bomb used to blow up the Early Learning Centre, but at the last minute, more pressing needs prevented him from going. At one point, he was given the task of sitting some of the Region 6 agents down and having them complete their long overdue expense claims. This happened in a hotel near Johannesburg International Airport, and among the culprits were Slang van Zyl and Calla Botha. During this exercise, "Nick" handed Van Zyl a small bottle of poison and gave him directions for its use. He had been told that the suppliers could not provide the poison in tablet or capsule form. The powder was given to Smit by "Christo Brits".

Dr Daan Goosen was the next witness and the first of the scientists to testify against Basson. He qualified as a veterinarian in 1975 and obtained an Honours degree three years later in clinical pathology, toxicology and pharmacology. While on the lecturing staff at Pretoria University's veterinary faculty, he was appointed director of the HA Grove animal research centre attached to what was then the HF Verwoerd Hospital in Pretoria on January 1, 1978. He held this post until the end of October 1983.

Goosen told the court how he had been recruited by Basson to establish the biological warfare facility Roodeplaat Research Laboratories. Goosen said that at a meeting which he, Basson and the then-Surgeon General, Gen. Nico Nieuwoudt attended the decision was made that the facility would operate clandestinely. This would allow the scientists freer access to the international scientific community and would allow RRL to draw top scientists to its payroll, since military remuneration would not be attractive enough. Delta G Scientific was already operating in this way and RRL would follow in its footsteps. Their cover story was that of a contract research facility in the pharmacological, agricultural, biological, veterinary and medical fields and some private projects.

Goosen said that in order to avoid undue attention to construction of a high-tech facility just outside Pretoria, RRL was built in phases - the animal centre first, then the basic laboratories, five research laboratories shared by microbiology and reproductive physiology. The high risk or P4 facilities came later and were constructed further north.

Goosen said that at first, contact between RRL and the SADF was through himself and Basson. Later, meetings were held at the Sterrewag (Observatory) premises of Military Intelligence on the southern outskirts of Pretoria. These were attended by Basson, RRL security chief Charl Jackson and Mijburgh as a rule. Monthly meetings also took place between the RRL "directors" and the main shareholder, the surgeon-general, at which all current projects were discussed. Goosen says there was no doubt among the RRL staff that the surgeon-general knew what work they were doing.

Security was strictly enforced. Once the RRL directors had nominated a team for a specific project, they were not allowed to discuss their work with anyone outside that team.

Goosen testified about work done at RRL on organophosphates saying that the objective was to develop the ultimate murder weapon - a lethal poison that could not be traced during an autopsy or, if traced, could not be traced back to RRL and hence the SADF. RRL was single-minded in this objective.

Tuesday 23 May 2000

Goosen continued his testimony by revisiting his demotion in January 1986 from managing director of Roodeplaat Research Laboratories to MD of Roodeplaat Breeding Enterprises, which focussed on the breeding of guard dogs.

After Basson's arrest in January 1997, Goosen was asked by the special investigation team to go through the contents of four steel trunks of documents belonging to Basson. He spent two weeks, almost full time, on the documents in just one of the trunks. In another, he found minutes of RRL meetings, personal documents belonging to Basson and 203 RRL project files, many of them the original research files, including some relating to Goosen's own projects.

There was also a great deal of literature on CBW, numerous documents related to Delta G Scientific, including minutes of board meetings and financial statements as well as documents relating to Infladel and Protechnik. The contents of what has become known as Trunk No 2 covered almost every aspect of South Africa's CBW capability.

Goosen said that the ultimate application of biological agents manufactured by scientists at RRL was "not within our frame of reference" but testified that there is no doubt in his mind that Project Coast was about the development of weapons - and during the 1980s, South Africa was a world leader in some aspects of biological research. Of the 203 project files in Basson's trunks, 177 dealt with CBW weapons. The rest related to "soft" or commercial projects. Of the 177 CBW files, 34 dealt with antidotes and treatment for biological agents and of these, only three were final reports. This surprised Goosen, since by his reckoning, there should have been 76 final reports. Of the 34, seven projects were pre-1988 while the rest were dated after that and up to the early 1990s.

During cross examination the defence team suggested that Dr. Goosen had not been honest in all his dealings at RRL and that he had misappropriated money used to build on to his home. Goosen said that any money he owed RRL at the time of his departure from the orgainsations was deducted before payment of his pension contributions.

Adv. Cillers put it to Goosen that in all international CBW laboratories, it is protocol to "look at the possibility of poisoning someone, somewhere in the world, with a view to protecting your own people". Goosen acknowledged that there was very little distance between the manufacture of a biological agent and the antidote. The same technology is used for both. And this, says Cilliers, is what RRL's work was actually all about. In typical military fashion, the problem was attacked in terms of a Red Plan and a Blue Plan - the most likely substances to be covertly administered to SA security force members/agents had first to be identified before countermeasures could be devised. And different people would be used to work on the offensive (Red Plan) and defensive (Blue Plan) measures, says Cilliers.

Cilliers also stated work on mamba venom - and that of other snakes - was part of a normal SADF project. Not only was there research on antidotes but mamba venom in particular has properties that are of vital importance in certain medications and biological warfare. It is a potent neuro-toxic poison with "very significant" anti-clotting properties, according to Cilliers. Goosen said if this was what was being sought, he would have thought venom from the adder family of snakes would have been more suited to research.

Goosen said it was correct that highly advanced research had been done on peptide synthesis. Cilliers said that the biggest CBW fear in the world is and was the peptide synthesiser, with its ability to produce peptides to alter moods and emotions. Goosen agreed that psychotropic substances are regarded as the new generation chemical weapons, but said the real fear in the year 2000 was development of ethnic-specific biological weapons, not covered by existing treaties. Cilliers said also that during the 1980s the realisation dawned that chemical warfare was no longer about mustard gas, which left heaps of bodies lying on battlefields, and attention turned to peptide synthesis instead.

Wednesday 24 May 2000

Former Roodeplaat Research Laboratories scientist Dr Stiaan Wandrag, whose research field is toxicology and pharmacology, testified. He joined Roodeplaat Research Laboratories in July 1988 on completion of his compulsory military service. His main work for the SA Defence Force was a "deep involvement" in developing CBW antidotes, which he believed were for the protection of VIPs, security force members and agents who might be exposed to CBW.

He worked in the Compression Lab - situated in a basement with extremely tight security and high compression filtration systems installed by Jan Lourens of Protechnik. This lab was used for work on toxic agents and access was restricted - there were only two keys, one in Wandrag's possession, the other in Andr� Immelman's. Wandrag was required to conduct studies on pharmacological products which included safety tests. Among the substances he worked with were Sarin, Tabun and VX. He also worked on an antidote for and protective measures against mustard gas. All Wandrag's products were tested on animals.

Wandrag carried out research on Vitamin D3 - or Cholicalciferol, a potent rat poison which results in calcification of the arteries as well as the heart muscle.The report on his research filed with the court records that by the time symptoms appear, the heart muscle is already damaged beyond repair, no matter what treatment is administered and it is thus advisable that a large enough dose be given in the first place. It is said in the report that the biggest advantage of the tasteless substance is that it is natural and thus leaves no trace.

The substance was bought by RRL for tests which Wandrag insists were "for the protection of VIPs". Kept in a refrigerator in Immelman's office, Wandrag drew quantities of the poison as he needed it for his research. Wandrag also conducted tests with Sodium Azide, commonly used in laboratories for preservation, but also in the manufacture of explosives. The substance is highly explosive, especially when it comes in contact with metals such as lead.

Wandrag also worked on the ionophore antibiotics to determine what effect they would have on humans, and did animal studies with Aloxam. At one point he was asked by Immelman to provide a baboon foetus. He was led to believe it would be used for tissue culture research in the Far East and was told to freeze it. Wandrag performed a Caesarian section on a pregnant baboon and removed two foetuses, one of which he gave to Immelman in a plastic bag, packed in ice in a polystyrene container. About three weeks later, Wandrag read in a newspaper about the "monkey" foetus suspended from a tree in Archbishop Desmond Tutu's garden at Bishopscourt and asked himself if this might not be the foetus he supplied. He did not ask anyone else, however.

Under cross-examination, Wandrag said in order to manufacture antidotes, he had to first have the toxin. Some chemical substances were received from Delta G Scientific. His tests had to determine the toxicity of various carrier substances to which the poisons had been added, identify symptoms of poisoning and draw up treatment protocols.

He claims tests done on chocolates laced with Thallium were done so that VIPs and security force members could be warned to beware of complimentary hotel chocolates in case they had been contaminated. The same applied to tests on contaminated whisky.

The next witness was Dr Mike Odendaal who was warned against self-incrimination in respect of placing salmonella in sugar, anthrax on cigarettes, botulinum in chocolates and beer and freeze-drying HIV-positive blood. He qualified as a veterinary surgeon in 1974, specialised in bacteriology and last year, obtained his PhD with development of a vaccine for feedlot cattle. Odendaal spent three years at Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute and three years at the HA Grove research centre before joining RRL in January 1985. He resigned in July 1993.

Odendaal said literature on biological warfare is scarce so from the outset he focussed on collecting as many cultures as he could find. One of the RRL laboratories was specially equipped for his work with pathogens at PL3 safety level. He cultured a considerable selection of bio-agents. At first, the defensive aspect was the most important but gradually, the emphasis shifted more and more to the offensive use of biological agents. Lacking clear guidelines from RRL management on what they were expected to do, scientists working for Odendaal pretty much went their own way, working on individual projects of choice. In his case, this meant the cattle vaccine.

Odendaal said the current approach in CBW programmes is to focus on micro-organisms and viruses, but no viruses were developed at RRL.

Odendaal said that Dr. Andr� Immelman controlled all 'H' or hard projects (projects for the SADF) at RRL and orders for these were almost never put in writing. As a rule, Immelman did not tell Odendaal what he needed specific pathogens for. However, he once asked for salmonella which was to be added to sugar for an ANC meeting. Odendaal had the idea the meeting was in Soweto, and was told afterwards that the salmonella had worked very well and that all the delegates had fallen ill.

He worked on all four types of Clostridium Botulinum - A & B which affect people and C & D which affect animals.

Odendaal says Botulinum is one of the most toxic substances on earth - a mere six molecules would be required to incapacitate and kill a man. Immelman was given samples of all four types.

Odendaal tested the toxicity of the substance when mixed with various liquids and found water, milk, beer and wine to work well. Added to pure alcohol such as whisky or gin, flocculant was visible.

At Immelman's request, Odendaal purchased several packets of cigarettes and contaminated one or two in each packet with anthrax spores on the filter. The packets were given to Immelman for resealing and distribution - to terrorists in Angola and Zambia, Odendaal understood.

Soft-centred chocolates were injected with anthrax or botulinum and given to Immelman. Fairly soon after Odendaal joined RRL, he was given a tube of blood by Immelman who told him it came from Basson, had been drawn from a 1 Miitary Hospital patient dying of AIDS and was to be freeze-dried with a view to being used against "opponents".

From the Sales List, he identified the following as substances he gave to Immelman: Beer with botulinum, anthrax spores on a letter (anthrax spores can survive for up to 90 years in the ground but if they reach the lungs, they are fatal), salmonella sugar, 16 bottles of vibrio cholera on August 4, 1989 (supplied in 100ml laboratory flasks), anthrax cigarettes, anthrax chocolates, botulinum chocolates, aldicarb in orange juice, another six bottles of vibrio cholera on one occasion and 10 on another, Brucella Melitensis (which has a five to 10-year effect on the victim), S typhimurium in deodorant.

In cross-examination, Cilliers established that all Odendaal's knowledge of the use of his pathogens, came from Immelman, as did the orders.

While all early work was defensive, offensive projects took over almost entirely in the later period. When Odendaal left in mid-1993, R200 000 had been spent on plans for a state-of-the-art biological production plant at P4 safety level and in which any products of which 300 litres or more were required, would be manufactured. It was never built.

Basson formally denies being involved in the abuse of any of the pathogens manufactured by Odendaal.

Veterinarian, Dr James Davies was the third witness of the day. Davies worked at RRL. Davies was made head of toxicology under Immelman and later head of animal experiments under Van Rensburg. Davies claims he understood Coast to be a purely defensive programme. Hard projects on which he worked were to determine toxicity of substances and how they could best be delivered. One of his test substances was Paraoxon, which is extremely poisonous and was tested on both rats and baboons. All projects had to be approved by Immelman, who was the link with the chief client, the SADF.

Davies carried out tests on the effectivity of special applicators at Immelman's request. These included a screwdriver and a walking stick, which was burnt in RRL's furnace when the company shut down, along with all substances kept by Immelman, microbiological cultures and documents. The screwdriver was tested on a pig carcass and reports were given to Immelman. The bamboo walking stick, powered by a blank cartridge, was tested on a cardboard box for penetration. Davies claims his impression was that even these tests were for defensive purposes as such devices could be used against SA troops. At Immelman's request, custom-made toxins were injected into chocolates and alcohol. The products were then returned to Immelman. Davies said he had put Aldicarb in orange juice, botulinum in beer, thallium in beer, paraquat in whisky, anthrax spores on five cigarettes and contaminated chocolates with various toxins. Paraoxon in lip balm was tested as a possible applicator while the toxicity of paraoxon and nicotine combined was tested in a dog. Toxicity tests on Brodifacum were also done by Davies.

Shortly after Basson was arrested in January 1997, Immelman summoned Davies, Wandrag, and Kobus Nieuwenhuis to a meeting with Basson at Adolf Malan's office. According to Davies, they were told to destroy any documents they might still have relating to their work at RRL. Under cross-examination, Davies said he had always worked from a defensive angle for the protection of "our own people" and that all his research reports had been drawn up from that viewpoint.

This report has been prepared by Chandr� Gould and Marlene Burger. Chandr� Gould is a research associate at the Centre for Conflict Resolution working on the Chemical and Biological Warfare Research Project. Marlene Burger is monitoring the trial as part of the CCR Chemical and Biological Warfare Research Project. The Chemical and Biological Warfare Research Project is funded by the Ford Foundation, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and the Norwegian Government.

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