AN ANTHRAX epidemic that struck Zimbabwe’s cattle in the early 1980s and also afflicted nearly 10000 people could be linked to South Africa’s chemical and biological warfare programme, reports Beeld. Dr Welbourne Madzima, deputy director of Zimbabwe’s veterinary services, said on Tuesday that his department will contact National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ncugka to obtain further information about the chemical and biological warfare project. He said an independent American study has shown that the strain of bacteria responsible for the outbreak was not native to Zimbabwe. Madzima is investigating links to apartheid-era bio-chemical warfare mastermind Dr Wouter Basson. Basson’s charge sheet mentions strains of anthrax bacteria that were allegedly handed over on more than one occasion to either Basson or one of his suspected accomplices.