TRC Final Report

Volume 2

Chapter 6

Part Part3

Subsection 5

■ FINDINGS

THE COMMISSION FINDS THAT:

• SCIENTISTS WERE RECRUITED TO THE CBW PROGRAMME FROM UNIVERSITIES AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS IN SOUTH AFRICA BECAUSE OF THEIR ‘PATRIOTISM’ AND LOYALTY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE DAY. THEY WERE LURED BY GENEROUS CONDITIONS OF SERVICE, FACILITIES, WORKING ARRANGEMENTS AND PAY PACKAGES.
• WORK WAS CONDUCTED ON A ‘NEED TO KNOW’ BASIS, SUBVERTING THE VERY PURPOSE OF SCIENCE. THE FREE DISCOURSE OF INFORMATION AND IDEAS THAT CHARACTERISES SCIENTIFIC ENDEAVOUR WAS SUBVERTED. MOREOVER, THOSE WHO WERE APPOINTED WERE INTIMIDATED AND THREATENED, EVEN WITH THEIR LIVES, IF THEY STEPPED OUT OF LINE.
• OVERALL UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROGRAMME, AND ITS CO-ORDINATION AND DIRECTION, WERE VESTED IN THE HANDS OF ONE PERSON, DR BASSON, WHOSE ABILITY AND (IT IS ASSUMED) INTEGRITY WERE UNQUESTIONED BOTH BY THOSE WHO SERVED UNDER HIM AND BY THOSE TO WHOM HE HAD TO REPORT. IT EMERGED IN THE HEARINGS THAT THE MILITARY COMMAND WAS DEPENDENT ON DR BASSON FOR THE CONDUCT AND COMMAND OF THE PROGRAMME, EVEN AT A TIME WHEN THERE WERE SUFFICIENT INDICATIONS THAT DR BASSON MIGHT NOT BE TRUSTWORTHY AND THAT THERE WERE SERIOUS ABERRATIONS IN WHAT WAS HAPPENING.
• THE MILITARY COMMAND, AND PRE-EMINENTLY THE SURGEON GENERAL, DR DP KNOBEL, WERE GROSSLY NEGLIGENT IN APPROVING PROGRAMMES AND ALLOCATING LARGE SUMS OF MONEY FOR ACTIVITIES OF WHICH THEY HAD NO UNDERSTANDING, AND WHICH THEY MADE NO EFFORT TO UNDERSTAND.
• THE CBW PROGRAMME MADE THE SELF-ENRICHMENT OF INDIVIDUALS POSSIBLE AND OPENED THE WAY FOR A CYNICAL SUBVERSION OF ITS OSTENSIBLE AIMS IN THE PRODUCTION OF MURDER WEAPONS FOR USE AGAINST INDIVIDUALS.
• A EXTREMELY COMPLICATED ARRANGEMENT OF FRONT COMPANIES SUPPORTED THE PROGRAMME, A PART OF WHOSE INTENTION WAS A PLAN FOR ITS OWN ULTIMATE PRIVATISATION. THIS, IT APPEARS, WAS INTENDED FROM THE START.
• THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROGRAMME WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT SOME LEVEL OF INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION AND SUPPORT.

THE ROLE OF THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

• THE CBW PROGRAMME, AND IN PARTICULAR ITS GROSS ABERRATIONS, WOULD NOT HAVE SUCCEEDED WITHOUT THE SUPPORT, ACTIVE AND TACIT, OF THE CO-ORDINATING MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE OVER THE PERIOD 1988 TO 1995.
• THE COMMITTEE KNEW OF THE LARGE-SCALE PRODUCTION OF MANDRAX AND ECSTASY AND THEIR PURPORTED USE, BUT DID NOT SEEK TO ESTABLISH REASONS FOR THIS. IT APPROVED OF THE IDEA AND LENT ITS SUPPORT DIRECTLY. THE IDEA OF USING EITHER MANDRAX OR ECSTASY FOR THE PURPOSE OF CROWD CONTROL CONTRAVENES INTERNATIONAL CODES. IN ADDITION, THERE WAS NO SCIENTIFIC BASIS FOR THINKING THAT IT WOULD BE AN APPROPRIATE, SAFE OR SENSIBLE FORM OF CROWD CONTROL.
• THE COMMITTEE WAS AWARE OF AND AUTHORISED BASSON'S TRIPS TO CROATIA, AT GREAT EXPENSE, TO PURCHASE 500KG OF METHAQUALONE AS LATE AS 1992, AND ASSISTED BASSON WHEN HE WAS ARRESTED IN SWITZERLAND IN POSSESSION OF FRAUDULENT BEARER BONDS.

THE SURGEON GENERAL IN PARTICULAR:

• KNEW OF THE PRODUCTION OF MURDER WEAPONS BUT REFUSED TO ADDRESS THE CONCERNS THAT WERE RAISED WITH HIM, ON THE GROUNDS THAT THEY DID NOT FALL UNDER HIS AUTHORITY. HE WAS NEVERTHELESS FULLY AWARE THAT THESE ACTIVITIES HAPPENED IN FACILITIES UNDER HIS DIRECT CONTROL AND WERE PERPETRATED BY STAFF UNDER HIS CHAIN OF COMMAND.
• DID NOT UNDERSTAND, BY HIS OWN ADMISSION, THE MEDICAL, CHEMICAL AND TECHNICAL ASPECTS AND IMPLICATIONS OF A PROGRAMME THAT COST TENS, IF NOT HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF RANDS.
• MADE NO EFFORT TO COME TO GRIPS WITH THESE TECHNICAL AND MEDICAL ISSUES, NOTWITHSTANDING THE FACT THAT HE WAS THE HIGHEST-RANKING MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL IN THE MILITARY AND THAT OTHERS IN THE MILITARY WERE WHOLLY DEPENDENT ON HIS JUDGEMENT AND DISCRETION.
• ADVISED THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE, ON 7 JANUARY 1993, THAT SOUTH AFRICA SHOULD CONCEAL FROM THE CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION THAT THE COUNTRY POSSESSED NGT (A NEW GENERATION OF TEAR GAS RELATED CLOSELY TO CR), RECOMMENDING THAT SOUTH AFRICA SHOULD PROCEED WITH THE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF NGT IN A COVERT MANNER WHILE AT THE SAME TIME CONCEALING IT.
• APPROVED THE BUDGET FOR PROJECTS (IN SOME CASES ALONE, AND IN OTHERS IN CON JUNCTION WITH HIS FELLOW OFFICERS ON THE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE, WITH OR WITH OUT THE FULL UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT HE WAS DOING) THAT HAD AS THEIR PURPOSE THE MURDER OF INDIVIDUALS, AND THE UNDERMINING OF THE HEALTH, IF NOT THE ELIMINATION, OF ENTIRE COMMUNITIES (FOR EXAMPLE, PROJECTS INVOLVING CHOLERA, FERTILITY DRUGS, BOTULINUM, MANDRAX AND ECSTASY).
• AGREED TO THE DESTRUCTION OF DOCUMENTS DESCRIBING THE ACTIVITIES AND THE FINANCIAL ASPECTS OF THESE PROGRAMMES. INSTEAD, HE SHOULD HAVE ENSURED THAT THE DETAILS OF THE PROGRAMME WERE RECORDED AND ACCESSIBLE, WHILE LIMITING THEIR ACCESSIBILITY TO AUTHORISED PERSONS. THIS WOULD HAVE SAFEGUARDED THE MASSIVE INVESTMENT, BOTH FINANCIAL AND IN TERMS OF SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENT, WHILE, ON THE OTHER HAND, GUARDING AGAINST USE OF THE INFORMATION FOR PURPOSES OF PROLIFERATION OR CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES.