ubilee South Africa - Apartheid Debt & Reparations Task Team
MEDIA STATEMENT
IMMEDIATE 11 April 2002

DR DEATH TRIAL OUTCOME A TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE

Wouter Basson’s acquittal on a host of most horrendous charges
in the Pretoria High Court today is a shameful day for truth and
justice in post-apartheid South Africa, Jubilee South Africa said in
a statement issued today.

“Basson’s case represents all that was despicable about the
corrupted apartheid system and the continued impunity of
apartheid criminals in the new South Africa, while apartheid’s
victims continue to suffer in poverty, joblessness, and the failure to
ensure reparations,” said Neville Gabriel, spokesperson for Jubilee
South Africa.

Thousands of apartheid’s victims hoped that the Basson trial would
help them to understand the past and come to terms with it, and
that it would deliver a small token of justice for the many who were
tortured, killed, and exiled. However, the trial revealed only that
apartheid’s powerful military and secret service bosses still have
much to hide and still have the means to obstruct the wheels of
justice.

This is the second time that the courts have cleared high level
apartheid military leaders of wrongdoing, the first being Magnus
Malan. It is evident that the courts are unable to deal fairly with
such matters. Unbelievably, the court has given more credibility to
Basson’s word than to the two hundred state witnesses and many
more written statements.

Dr Death, the head of apartheid’s chemical and biological weapons
programme, whom the court admitted has extensive knowledge
and expertise in the production of dreadfully dangerous chemical
and biological weapons and knowledge of the chemical and
biological weapons market, now walks free without any way of
society controlling his activities.

Jubilee South Africa further expressed alarm that conflicting
statements have emerged from the departments of Justice and
National Intelligence about who has custody of the missing Truth &
Reconciliation (TRC) files relating to chemical and biological
weapons and the murder of Dulcie September. It is highly irregular
that the National Intelligence Agency had access to the missing
files. We demand an explanation of this from both relevant
government departments.

Similarly, reports that Swiss Secret Service chief Peter Regli
destroyed documents relating to his dealings with the likes of
Basson demonstrate that the victims cannot rely on good will to
ensure that the truth is known and that justice is delivered.

Jubilee South Africa therefore demanded the immediate release of
all apartheid-era archive material for public scrutiny - both in South
Africa and in countries implicated in the Basson trial, especially
Switzerland - so that the truth may be told about the past and that
the healing process of victims of apartheid can be advanced.

In particular, Jubilee South Africa demanded that:
? Swiss military and bank archives be immediately opened
to researchers so as to fully understand the nature of
Swiss-Apartheid financial and military links,
? the missing TRC documents be immediately restored to
the national archive under the custody of the Department of
Justice, and
? an independent audit of the files be conducted to ensure
that all original documentation remains intact.

For more information and comment please contact Neville Gabriel
at tel. +27 (0)12 323 6358 or mobile +27 (0)83 449 3934

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