South Africa's 'Dr Death' says he had unlimited power

The head of apartheid South Africa’s chemical and biological warfare program said today he had been given unlimited power to further his programme.

Dr Wouter Basson, on trial for 46 murder, fraud and drug-trafficking charges, testified he had the authority to tell foreign enemies about South African secrets, as long as he received more information than he gave.

He also could spend money as he saw fit and travel to wherever he wanted.

The apartheid authorities’ only requirement was that he inform the military if the country was endangered, Basson said, adding he was never quite sure what that entailed.

Authorities say Basson headed a secret programme that searched for ways to kill black enemies of the apartheid state.

He has pleaded innocent to all the charges, including 13 counts of murder and has denied involvement in illegal activities.

Basson, dubbed Dr Death, winked at a photographer as he walked into the Pretoria High Court today for his first day of testimony in his 21-month-old trial.

Basson said he initially wanted to become a gynaecologist, but changed his plans when called for mandatory military duty.

After two years in the military, he had begun to enjoy the structure and decided to stay. He became a cardiologist.

Speaking calmly in Afrikaans, sometimes making gestures to emphasise points or smoothing his greying beard, Basson listed his achievements as a military doctor.

He said he had helped Iran stave off hunger by teaching the country how it could beat potato blight that threatened the country’s crops in the mid-1980s.

He also said he had helped to defeat a hepatitis-A epidemic ravaging parts of the defence force.

But Basson also tried to portray a humble image of himself.

In explaining how he became head of the chemical and biological warfare program, he responded: ‘‘In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.’’

Basson said he viewed the creation of such a programme as an ‘‘interesting intellectual problem.’’

While doing research for the programme, Basson said he visited a mustard gas factory in Iraq.

Several factory workers died each week, Basson said, adding there were plenty of workers to replace those who succumbed.

In the early years of the programme, Basson travelled to Europe and America up to 10 times a year to establish contacts and gather information.

He was arrested in 1997 for allegedly selling Ecstasy to a police informant.

Basson’s programme allegedly manufactured large quantities of street drugs, supposedly for crowd control purposes.

While searching Basson’s home, investigators found documents detailing the programme.