the rollback of south africa's biological warfare program

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most important post-1994 trial involving national security issues would be open rather than closed to the public. Wouter Basson’s Bail Hearing: The Role of NGOs and the Press in Ensuring Public Disclosure In August 1998, Basson was charged on 17 counts including murder, conspiracy to commit murder, fraud, and the possession of and dealing in, illegal substances. Why Basson had stolen them and kept them in his garage, just waiting to be discovered, is not clear. Dr. Daan Goosen, former managing director at RLL (until he complained that the program was out of control and was forced to resign), claimed that Basson kept the documents in order to have something of value (he was unable to replicate the knowledge on his own) and because he was possibly blackmailing people for protection. 196 Others expressed concern that he kept the documentation in order to be able to sell it to foreign governments (e.g., Libya) to maintain his lavish life style after stepping down as head of Project Coast. Efforts to understand Basson’s motives were complicated by the secrecy required by an ongoing criminal investigation and due to the government’s desire to keep further details of Project Court from being disclosed. Immediately after Basson’s arrest at the beginning of 1997, his defense attorney claimed that the NIA had kidnapped him. NIA's response was that they were holding him in protective custody due to numerous death threats. Basson's attorney’s submitted a 60-page bail application. Basson was eventually released. He went back to work at One Military Hospital in Pretoria. He works there when his court case is not in session. The South African government has been paying his legal costs. As of August 2000, Basson’s legal fees since his arrest in 1997 had cost the State 4 million rand (over half a million U.S. dollars). 197 Basson's bail hearing and related legal proceedings were closed to the 76
public. The State was operating on the assumption that the legal proceedings would remain closed to the public throughout much or all of the anticipated 18-month criminal trial. This situation triggered a two-year legal effort by a non-governmental organization (NGO), the Freedom of Expression Institute (FIX), to make Basson's bail application open to the public. FIX filed a legal petition in 1997, after receiving a request from two newspapers, The Sunday Times and Mail & Guardian, to do something about the closed legal proceedings. FIX filed an application with the Magistrate Court as the sole plaintiff, because legal glitches precluded the two newspapers from filing as plaintiffs. 198 The State's position was that the bail application contained information negative for South Africa’s foreign relations in three categories: 1) names of individuals who had not been charged; 2) names of countries mentioned in the bail application; and, 3) the names of local people involved in Basson’s business dealings. The Ministry of Justice insisted that the last category be kept secret, because to do otherwise would compromise ongoing criminal investigations. A second argument used by the State was similar to those heard during earlier efforts to keep the TRC’s Project Coast hearings closed, to wit that information in the bail application would be in violation of the Non- Proliferation Treaty that South Africa had ratified and promised to uphold. NIA argued that classified information should not be released until it had gone through the normal declassification process. FIX countered that much of this information was no longer secret, since it had already been made public by the TRC. They also noted that several reporters already had full transcripts from the hearings and had used this information in published press reports. On the day that the Regional Magistrate of Pretoria heard the bail request, several reporters were in the court until the Court went into camera session. FIX, now joined by several news organizations and an independent journalist, appealed to the Supreme Court. 77
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THE ROLLBACK OF SOUTH AFRICA’S BI
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TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword vii Exec
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FOREWORD We are pleased to publish
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The profile of So
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The Rollback of the South African B
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During WWII, South African Prime Mi
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dollars) estimate to build a CBW pr
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learn first-hand how the Portuguese
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use of chemical and biological agen
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incidents underscored the variable
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Convention (BWC). According to form
Page 25 and 26:
Project Coast, which would countera
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internal suppression of political d
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Malan, and the Minister of Finance,
Page 31 and 32:
The chain of command demonstrates t
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omb could be used to wipe out or in
Page 35 and 36: tear gas and to incapacitate withou
Page 37 and 38: In the aftermath of Cuito Cuanavale
Page 39 and 40: confirmed, there is evidence that s
Page 41 and 42: the SSC. At this time, the security
Page 43 and 44: Given the breadth and depth of coop
Page 45 and 46: instruct scientists working with a
Page 47 and 48: the South African President’s off
Page 49 and 50: Mandrax and Ecstasy that were produ
Page 51 and 52: overseas business deals. 114 In Aug
Page 53 and 54: South Africa negotiated the withdra
Page 55 and 56: political party or organization. Pr
Page 57 and 58: nuclear weapons program and Project
Page 59 and 60: TRC, the men who tried to kill Chik
Page 61 and 62: In 1991, Basson began to build Mert
Page 63 and 64: Military personnel from several cou
Page 65 and 66: Meyer, the Acting Defense Secretary
Page 67 and 68: leave the SADF at the end of March
Page 69 and 70: Knobel’s testimony to the TRC, SA
Page 71 and 72: objected to the South African CBM a
Page 73 and 74: Basson and his trips to Libya were
Page 75 and 76: experiences for the military leader
Page 77 and 78: was submitted in 1994). This time U
Page 79 and 80: as the U.S., Great Britain, and oth
Page 81 and 82: investigation phase ended. Initiall
Page 83 and 84: June 1998. However, several weeks b
Page 85: penalties did finally force him to
Page 89 and 90: The limited news coverage of the Ba
Page 91 and 92: South African court for crimes comm
Page 93 and 94: ulings excluding evidence, his timi
Page 95 and 96: had asked him to set up a facility
Page 97 and 98: cover illegal personal gains from t
Page 99 and 100: who had detailed knowledge of many
Page 101 and 102: 9. What specifically and when did t
Page 103 and 104: e delivered through food and water,
Page 105 and 106: Reconciliation Commission of South
Page 107 and 108: 41 Interview with Dr. G. Scharf, fo
Page 109 and 110: 56 Mangold, Plague Wars, 243. 57 In
Page 111 and 112: weaponization took place. Donald Ma
Page 113 and 114: home of Jerry Nilsson, who was ques
Page 115 and 116: he still need to raise cash in Sout
Page 117 and 118: military bases and was familiar to
Page 119 and 120: 162 According to Dr. Ian Phillips,
Page 121 and 122: Basson’s arrest was the result of
Page 123 and 124: 200 By the seventh week of the tria
Page 125: 115
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