Ex-recce haunted by 'dirty tricks'

I was following orders - Basson aide

Daily Dispatch Correspondent

PORT ELIZABETH -- A former reconnaissance soldier, implicated in hundreds of murders and poisonings as a key henchman of chemical warfare expert Wouter Basson, says he was "doing a job" and if he had not followed orders, he would have been killed.

In an exclusive interview at his Jeffreys Bay home yesterday, Danie Phaal, 41, said: "It was a war. I did my job."

The life of quiet normality which Phaal carved for himself and his family in the surfing mecca has been shattered by the revelations of his dark past.

" I wanted to just get on with life and see if we can make South Africa a success.

"What do I tell my children? My son is 14 and my daughter 13. They weren't even born when all this happened. It was another era and I don't think they ever had an idea that things like this happened."

Among the allegations against him are that he delivered a concoction of drugs to poison up to 200 South West African People's Organisation prisoners.

He is also alleged to have killed fellow soldiers and covert operatives who threatened to expose details of clandestine operations.

The businessman says he is haunted by his involvement in "dirty tricks" and assassinations.

He describes Basson, who went on trial in the Pretoria High Court last Monday, as "a brilliant man" who "could be well used by the current government".

Basson, who founded and developed South Africa's chemical and biological warfare programme, code-named Project Coast, faces 67 charges ranging from fraud and murder to drug dealing.

Phaal confirmed he had been approached by the legal team prosecuting Basson and would probably testify against him.

"The truth will prevail," he said.

The 274-page Basson indictment details a litany of murders and assassinations in which Phaal, a former Special Forces captain, was allegedly involved:

* In the early 1980s, he transported a consignment of the muscle relaxants tuberine and scoline and the drug Vesparax to Ondangwa in the then South West Africa.

This allegedly followed requests by the SADF to Basson for assistance in murdering Swapo captives. Once there Phaal allegedly took charge of a group of about 200 South West African People's Organisation (Swapo) prisoners identified for "elimination". They were given overdoses of the drugs which induced suffocation. Their corpses were dumped in the sea.

* In 1983, Phaal allegedly murdered a Swapo prisoner of war at Ondangwa, giving him a poisoned fruit juice to drink.

* In 1986, a Special Forces lance corporal, Victor de Fonseca, contracted brain cancer and began "talking". He was allegedly given poisoned tea, but survived. Phaal allegedly finished him with a glass of poisoned orange juice.

* An unnamed member of Delta 40, the forerunner of the notorious Civil Co-operation Bureau death squad, was allegedly murdered by Phaal in the early 1980s with an injection of tuberine and scoline.

* An unnamed member of 5 Reconnaissance Regiment was allegedly given a cold drink spiked with a sleeping drug by Phaal, then injected with chemicals and thrown from an aircraft into the sea.

Phaal was discharged from the Air Force in May 1988. He transferred to Special Forces in 1985.

Following his discharge Basson approached him with a plan to distribute poisoned beer at taxi ranks in the Eastern Cape and Transkei. Phaal initially "agreed" to help but later backed out.

In February 1992 he declined an offer by Basson to earn R1million by selling a consignment of 100000 Mandrax tablets.