The HPCSA found Basson guilty on four uncontested charges:
- Dr Basson coordinated the production of large quantities of illegal psychoactive substances;
- Dr Basson was involved in equipping mortars with teargas for use against Angolan government soldiers;
- Dr Basson provided SADF operatives with disorienting substances to facilitate illegal kidnapping;
- Dr Basson made available cyanide capsules to SADF soldiers so that they could decide to commit suicide to avoid revealing information under torture.
Basson has a long history of entanglements with the legal system and appears to be slathered in Teflon. He was first arrested in a “sting operation” in 1997 with over 1000 Ecstasy tablets in his possession. In a long running trial in Pretoria High Court, he was charged with 67 counts, including 229 murders, fraud, embezzlement, drug trafficking and possession. Over 150 witnesses testified for the prosecution. Basson was the sole witness in his defense.
During the trial, questions were raised about judicial impartiality and the State tried to recuse Judge Willie Hartzenberg, who refused to step down. Hartzenberg ultimately dismissed a number of the charges against Basson and acquitted him on the remaining 46 counts.
The Supreme Court of Appeal denied an application for a retrial in 2003.
In 2006, the HPCSA launched its investigation of Basson and ultimately charged him with the above 4 counts. His sentencing has been repeatedly delayed due to unavailability of his counsel, Jaap Cilliers.
Basson, who currently has a successful cardiology practice in Capetown, has been notably unremorseful for his activities as Director of Project Coast. He was caught on film a few years ago by New York filmmaker Bob Coen chortling about his work on developing a blacks only bioweapon.
On camera, Basson admits “That was the most fun I ever had!”
In fact, much of what Basson did at Project Coast is still veiled in secrecy. High ranking sources within the former apartheid government as well as within the US intelligence community have admitted that Basson’s secret work on this targeted race bioweapon may have, in fact, come to fruition.
If it is true, as explored here that Basson developed a biological weapon that attaches onto melanin (darker skinned people have more melanin than do the lighter races) and if this were subsequently leaked into the processed food supply, accounting for the spiking rates of diabetes and hypertension in people of color since the 1980’s, then Basson’s true legacy has been secured. He may, in fact, be the scientific and spiritual lineage-bearer of Dr. Josef Mengele.
As Africa reels under the pounding from AIDS, Ebola and the diabetes pandemic there is much more at stake in Basson’s sentencing than whether or not an aging former soldier will be allowed to practice heart medicine any longer.
Last year, the highest court in South Africa, the Constitutional Court, overturned a judgment by the Supreme Court of Appeal and ruled that crimes allegedly committed outside the country could be heard in South Africa. This judgment paves the way for Basson to be tried on further counts for his activities in Rhodesia and elsewhere.
However, the National Prosecuting Authority has not to this date initiated a further legal action against Basson. The HPCSA has the authority only to impose a fine or revoke the license to practice medicine.
Janet C. Phelan, investigative journalist and human rights defender that has traveled pretty extensively over the Asian region, an author of a tell-all book EXILE, exclusively for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook
