SECRETS AND LIES. Wouter Basson & South Africa's Chemical and Biological Warfare Program

Zebra Press, 2002. Soft cover, 231 pages. Good, clean condition. Under 1kg.

The trial of Dr Wouter Basson, the head of apartheid South Africa's chemical and biological warfare (CBW) programme, generated intense interest both inside South Africa and in the wider world. Basson joined the Army after completing a doctorate in chemistry, and was rapidly promoted through the ranks. He travelled around the world as a spy, on both sides of the Iron Curtain, using fake identities - and often fake marriages - as a front. Back in South Africa, Basson headed Project Coast, the state's CBW programme, during which time he was allegedly involved in poisonings, developing drugs to placate the state's opponents, and simple, brutal murder. Basson was initially arrested for possessing Ecstasy tablets, and was then investigated by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which led to a criminal trial. This book is written by a chief TRC investigator and a journalist who followed every day of the case.