Basson hearing continues

2012-03-28 08:47

Pretoria - Apartheid era germ warfare expert Wouter Basson will appear before the Health Professions Council of SA again on Wednesday, to answer to four remaining charges of unprofessional and unethical conduct.

The charges arise from his involvement in the apartheid government's chemical and biological warfare programme in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Salie Joubert, acting as pro forma complainant, on Tuesday hammered Basson with questions about his involvement in the project as a medical doctor.

Joubert accused Basson of lying to the commission in his plea explanation, in which he said all drugs manufactured by the project were for research purposes and were never used in combat situations.

Basson was accused of telling half truths about the reasons why then President Nelson Mandela had decided to re-employ him as a civilian in the Defence Force in 1995.

He said the reason was because the American and British governments had regarded him as a threat and wanted to employ him as a chemical and biological warfare consultant to contain him.

Joubert put it to him that the Americans and British feared that Basson would supply information to the Libyans and had asked Mandela to restrict Basson's movements, but that Mandela had refused because he had fought restrictions his whole life.

- SAPA