Information on outlandish research conducted by a group of companies for the SADF is being revealed. By Eddie Koch and Derek Fleming
A NETWORK of companies near Pretoria developed chemical warfare equipment for the South African Defence Force and also conducted secret experiments on animals to test high tech “dum dum” bullets and heat resistant clothing in the 1980s.
One of the firms in the network, the Roodeplaats Research Laboratory, carried out a bizarre “wolf-dog” project in which German Sheperds were crossbred with wolves to produce guard dogs for use in the protection of military and paramilitary installations.
Information about these outlandish research companies is emerging from a range of sources. These include a top-level probe being conducted by a team from the Attorney General’s office, reports in the Sunday Tribune and the Weekly Mail & Guardian’s independent investigations.
Armscor last week announced it owned a chemical warfare research plant near Pretoria called Protechnik. The company — which describes itself as the biggest nuclear, biological and chemical laboratory in Africa — was officially designed to develop only defensive equipment against chemical weapons.
But the American CIA released a report in 1989 which placed South Africa on a list of countries that had developed and stockpiled chemical weapons. The journal Africa Confidential, which has sources in British intelligence, says South Africa worked closely with Israel in the 1980s to develop a chemical warfare capability.
Investigators from the Office for Serious Economic Offences — a special unit attached to the AG’s department — have been looking into possible financial irregularities regarding a network of companies that supplied the army with pharmaceuticals and anti-chemical warfare equipment in the 1980s.
An official report on the activities of the group has been sent to Justice Minister Dullah Omar. “The report is marked top secret and the minister is busy studying it. He will issue a statement in due course,” said officials in the justice ministry.
Jan Swanepoel, head of the Office for Serious Economic Offences, confirmed that the company network is under investigation in connection with the “flow of funds connected with an army project”.
According to Sunday Tribune press reports, key directors in the network of companies under investigation include a Dr Wouter Basson, a Dr Wynand Swanepoel, and a nephew of former Defence Minister Magnus Malan called Dr Phillip Mijburgh.
All three served together in the SADF’s medical services.
Correspondence between Basson and Mijburgh show that the pair were researching “legal aspects of chemical and biological warfare”.
Sources in the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) told the WM&G that military officials used the council’s facilities to obtain and develop different strains of germs — some of which are highly toxic to humans.
Investigations conducted by the WM&G show that a dog unit attached to the Roodeplaats Research Laboratory, one of the companies in the group, successfully bred a half-wolf half- German Sheperd to supply the army and other security agencies with tracker and guard dogs.
The programme, ostensibly designed to offset a genetic hip- displacement disorder in thoroughbred German Sheperds, used a wolf from the Ural Mountains known as “Big Red” to father a generation of cross-breeds. Some of these animals were supplied to the army, Eskom and the Johannesburg traffic department.
Sources at Roodeplaats said several problems were experienced in the early phases of the wolf-dog project. The cross-breeds were reluctant to submit to the authority of their trainers and were shy of human contact, making them unsuitable for tracking work.
The wolf dogs also had soft pads under their paws which made them unsuitable for anti-insurgency campaigns conducted against Swapo guerrillas operating in the semi- desert conditions of northern Namibia in the early 1980s. The army solved this by equipping their tracker wolf-dogs with special “booties” designed to protect their tender paws.
A source who worked at the laboratory in the 1980s says researchers tested heat-resistant military fabrics by shaving the hair off the legs of baboons, covering the exposed skin with the material and burning it with a blow torch.
The baboons are said to have died from their wounds.
Roodeplaats is also believed to have tested bullets, designed to inflict maximum injuries rather than kill their victims, on animals. The purpose of developing this kind of ammunition was to cause psychological terror in the ranks of opposing forces and to stretch their back-up medical services.
The Roodeplaats laboratory, located some 15km north of Pretoria, is barred by large steel gates and surrounded by a double row of electrified fences.
The inner fence is linked to an electronic alarm and the passage between the barriers is patrolled by guard dogs at night.
A Roodeplaats representative was unavailable for comment at the time of going to press. However a director, Dr Schalk van Niekerk, has stated that the extraordinary security was designed to protect the plant from industrial espionage and “irrational animal rights groups”.