the rollback of south africa's biological warfare program

military bases and was familiar to customs officials. He said the aircraft was
seldom searched, which made it easier for Basson to transport equipment
earmarked for Project Coast and SADF throughout the 1980s. Business Day,
(14 June 2000).
139 Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 515.
140 Stefaans Brummer, Weekly Mail and Guardian (20 December 1995). See
also Peter Hounam and Steve McQuillen, The Mini-Nuke Conspiracy:
Mandela's Nuclear Nightmare (London: Faber & Faber, 1995). In the mid-
1990s, the South African Broacasting show Agenda reported allegations of a
large 1992 clandestine shipment of a mercuric substance to Delta G during
research for a program on murders connected to deals in red mercury. The
broadcast pointed out that Delta G was reported to have carried out research to
create nerve gases that could immobilize enemy forces for a number of hours
but not kill them, making it possible to overrun strategic installations without
exposing friendly forces to dangerous compounds. Lieutenant-Colonel Charles
Landman, who headed of a special police team set up to probe a string of
murders apparently connected to red mercury at the time, confirmed he also
had evidence that Delta G had bought more than two tons of yellow mercuric
oxide from controversial Natal-based mercury recyclers Thor Chemicals in
September 1991. Agenda producer Jacques Pauw said there was evidence that
yellow mercuric oxide was one of the "building blocks" of red mercury, the
substance said to make nuclear devices smaller and more effective. Thor
Chemicals executive Alan Kidger was murdered two months after the Delta G
deal. Kidger was found completely dismembered and smeared with a black
oily substance. His death has been linked to the trade in Red Mercury by
police investigations. There is some evidence that the murders of Durban
armaments dealers Don Juan Lange in June and Dirk Stoffberg in July 1994
and perhaps others were connected to the trade in Red Mercury. To date, none
of the “Red Mercury murders” has been solved. The prevailing theory of
prosecutors and journalists is that all of these individuals were involved in
clandestine arms procurement deals (Interviews, South Africa, 1994-2000).
141 The TRC reports Lt. Gen. Pierre Steyn’s report to President F.W. de Klerk,
20 December 1992, as source of this incident.
142 TRC researchers could not arrange a meeting with the British investigator.
Investigators met with Dr Staub, a member of both the Swiss and the United
Nations investigating team. He told them that he believed that the troops had
suffered dehydration and had not been the victims of a chemical attack. This
explanation struck the Commission's investigation unit as unlikely but is
consistent with the assessment of foreign military personnel who investigated
this and other alleged incidents of CBW use in Mozambique during the early
107