By Dan Zakreski

NORTH BATTLEFORD - A Saskatchewan doctor accused of killing blacks in his native South Africa as part of a secret chemical and biological warfare program says the truth of what happened during "the war years" will come out when he testifies at the trial of the man dubbed Dr. Death.

"Maybe it'll be an eye-opener to people," said Dr. Jack Bothma in an interview outside his clinic Monday.

"These things will come out in the court case. They were the war years, things happened. I guess they'll just have to come out at the trial."

Bothma says he expects to take the stand at the trial of Dr. Wouter Basson, the so-called Dr. Death who headed South Africa's chemical and biological warfare program and is charged with killing 16 people. He is also charged with conspiracy to commit murder for allegedly supplying poison to kill 200 members of a rebel group in what is now neighbouring Namibia.

Bothma has been accused of handcuffing five men to trees and injecting them with fatal doses of muscle relaxants. He has not been charged, and has agreed to testify for the prosecution.

Bothma has practised orthopedic surgery from a streetfront clinic in this northeastern city since 1994, when he was recruited from South Africa by the local health district. Since the news broke about his role in the Basson trial, his office has been besieged by calls.

"I don't have to tell you what has transpired here. It's a terrible thing for me to live through. People think that you're evil and that kind of stuff," he said.

"I wish I could state the events as they happened and so on, but I cannot because what I'm going to say, I'm going to have to say in court in South Africa. The prosecuting attorneys said that they would contact me when it's time to go."

The worst part is being unable to explain what happened to his patients, he added.

"A situation like this is extremely frustrating, it's almost like you feel that you let people down. You cannot even explain yourself, say exactly what happened," Bothma said.

"The thing is, you live in a community where you learn to love people and trust people, and they trust you . . . it's hard to say what goes through your mind at a time like this. I guess one will just have to live through it and get out on the other side."

By midday, the venetian blinds were drawn shut on the clinic's main window. Bothma also contacted RCMP, fearing that media gathered on the sidewalk were harassing his patients.

Officials with the local health district and the Saskatchewan College of Physicians and Surgeons say nothing untoward appeared in their screening of Bothma when he was recruited.

North Battleford District Health Board chief executive officer John Yarske said officials work with the college when hiring medical personnel from overseas.

The local board does a preliminary check on an applicant's professional credentials and arranges for telephone or personal interviews. The board also collects and checks references.

The more detailed checks are done by the college. A key piece of information is the "certificate of good standing" from the medical council in the country of origin, said college spokesperson Bryan Salte.

Bothma came with such accreditation, Salte said.

Added Yarske: "His credentials were impeccable, his practice good. For five years there were no problems."

Bothma, however, failed to clear one final hurdle. Salte said foreign doctors coming from a specific group of other countries, including South Africa, are allowed to practise in Canada for five years before testing for a medical licence in their area of specialty.

They are also given three opportunities to take the test.

Salte said Bothma has three months to wind down his medical practice after he failed the test for the third time. It has an oral and written component. Salte had no more specific information about the test.

Bothma would not comment on how this failure, or the trial, might affect his future in Canada.