| Dr Death cooked and cared for Mandela [boodskap #47559] |
Do, 02 Augustus 2001 06:36  |
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Hier gaan nog lelike dinge uitkom by die ou se saak. Jammer die stuk is in
ingils.
.
On y soit, qui mal y pense.
(You are what you think.)
Dr Death cooked and cared for Mandela
[Pretoria, August 1 ] - Apartheid-era chemical warfare expert Wouter Basson
on Wednesday claimed he had in the early 1990s visited the house of former
president Nelson Mandela several times, had cooked for Mandela and even took
care of him when he undertook flights.
"I was at Mr Mandela's home four or five times with the Libyan Minister of
Foreign Affairs and Yusef Murgham (Basson claimed he was a Libyan
intelligence officer) and later with Graca Machel and (former African
National Congress spy) Sol Pienaar.
"I had dropped Murgham and the Minister of Foreign Affairs at Mandela's
house in 1992. I cannot remember when I was introduced to Mr Mandela, but I
know I at a later stage made food at Mandela's house and also took care of
him when he travelled by plane.
"Pienaar travelled to Libya to fetch money for the ANC. That's what he did.
Later on we took over that function ... Murgham was responsible for funding
from Libya to the ANC. He paid cash to ANC members in Harare every month,"
he said.
He admitted bringing Pienaar under the impression that he was a wealthy
businessman. Pienaar earlier bitterly told the court how Basson had conned
him into introducing him to the top echelon of the ANC.
Basson claimed to have been instrumental in handing a letter from Libyan
leader Muammar Gadhafi to British leader John Major through the intervention
of the chief of the then SA Defence Force, Georg Meiring.
"Since I met the Libyan Minister of Foreign Affairs the first time, it was
always about the Lockerbie case. The letter from Gadhafi to John Major
suggested that Mandela should act as mediator," he said.
Basson on Wednesday admitted that he had in 1994, after he was already put
on pension by the SADF, lied to the National Intelligence Agency about his
Libyan contacts and the chemical and biological warfare programme.
He did this because of strict orders by the Chief of the Defence Force that
he had to withhold sensitive information about the programme from the NIA.
"The operational solution was mine. I could say and do what I wanted to, as
long as I did not reveal any details of the project," he said.
Basson said he could not remember being told by former SADF Surgeon General
Niel Knobel or the Minister of Defence to "play open cards" with the NIA.
He however said he had at a later stage talked to the English and American
secret services about proliferation on behalf of the NIA.
According to Basson, he did not inform Knobel about his contacts with the
Libyans, "because it was not necessary and he did not want to know".
Basson claimed to have acted on behalf of Libyan, East German and Russian
principals when he set up a network of companies overseas and in South
Africa, using their funds.
He had also used these "principals" to supply him with information,
technology and substances needed for the project. Defence Force money was
paid to the principals, but the proceeds ploughed back into the group of
companies. Basson said it did not concern him how the principals paid the
suppliers, as long as he received what he needed for the project.
He said no books were kept for the front companies he created on behalf of
his principals and where he initially reported back regularly and in detail,
he later on had a free hand to do as he wanted and only reported back
occasionally to his principals.
To a question of his principals ever wanted to know how much money they had
pumped into South Africa, Basson said: "I really don't know how much money
they invested in South Africa. They were satisfied as long as they obtained
the services they wanted. It was incidental money for them -- it was peanut
money -- it's not even money for them," he said.
Basson said his principals appeared to have been satisfied with his work for
them and how he spent their money and the manner in which he reported it to
them.
"If I used the money and did not tell them about it, I would probably not be
here today," he said.
Basson is facing 46 charges, ranging from murder to fraud and drug
trafficking. He has denied guilt on all of the charges.
The State alleges that he had used SADF funds to enrich himself and some of
his business partners and that he had supplied, or had been instrumental in
supplying, deadly toxins to kill enemies of the apartheid government.
The trial continues -Worldonline news team
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