Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
offense. Some military officials have argued that the primary reason be-
hind the development of the BW facility at Roodeplaat Research Labora-
tories (RRL) was to provide an animal-testing facility for chemical agents
developed at the sister company, Delta G Scientific.
Both RRL and Delta G Scientific were military front companies, estab-
lished to conduct research and to develop and produce products for Pro-
ject Coast. In the event of detection, the front companies were meant to
shield the CBW program and disguise its military connections. They also
made it easier to import dual-use equipment and other items that might
have raised suspicion had it been known that they were destined for a
military organization.
7
There is certainly documentary evidence that chemical agents were
tested on animals at RRL.
8
Scientists involved in the BW program, how-
ever, claim that it was intended to supply the military and police with
covert assassination weapons for use against individuals regarded as a
threat to the apartheid government.
9
Documents from RRL confirm claims made at the TRC hearings that
work was done to find substances that were odorless, colorless, and not
traceable postmortem.
10
It appears that either chemical or biological
agents would do. The join between the chemical and biological compo-
nents of the program was seamless. Research at RRL included synthesis
and development of biological and chemical agents (particularly organo-
phosphates),
11
while scientists at Delta G Scientific occasionally assisted
RRL researchers with projects involving biological agents.
12
No publicly available document about Project Coast provides a clear in-
dication of either the extent or nature of the biological program. The em-
phasis is rather on the perceived chemical threat to South African forces
fighting in Angola and the need to defend them, as well as on developing
agents to control internal opposition to apartheid.
13
All the documents that do reveal the motivation behind the BW pro-
gram and its development are retrospective. These documents were pre-
pared for the minister of defense, Eugene Louw, and President F. W. De
Klerk in the early 1990s. Both men needed to be seen to be making a
break with the past,
14
and it is likely that the briefings they received delib-
erately obscured aspects of the program that might have caused discom-
fort. Unlike his predecessor, P. W. Botha, De Klerk was not a militarist;
soon after becoming president he replaced General Magnus Malan with a
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