Roodeplaat Research Laboratories

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Roodeplaat Research Laboratories (RRL) ( Afrikaans : Roodeplaat Navorsings Laboratoriums ) was one of four front companies established by the South African apartheid regime to develop chemical and biological warfare agents . The other companies were Delta G Scientific Company , Protechnik, and Infladel .

founding

RRL, as the research facility was commonly known, was founded in April 1982 as part of the highly classified Project Coast . It was based north of the Roodeplaat reservoir near Pretoria , next to an agricultural research station, so as not to attract attention. Daan Goosen was an executive director until 1986 when he was fired for alleged betrayal of secrecy. Wynand Swanepoel, a special forces dentist, took over. The auditor Pierre Theron was personally named by the then Prime Minister Pieter Willem Botha . All four companies were subordinate to the South African armed forces SADF and were u. a. von Wouter Basson , also as Dr. Death ("Dr. Tod") known, directed.

Secret mission

First of all, defensive chemical and biological warfare agents were to be developed and tested in animal experiments in order to better protect the armed forces that fought against SWAPO freedom fighters and the communist MPLA in the South African border war in Namibia and Angola . Very soon, however, the task came to research offensive warfare agents and to develop deadly poisons that could not be detected in an autopsy. The laboratories were not fully operational until 1985 and some also had the biological protection level 3. Research was carried out among other things. a. Brodifacoum , Paraoxon , ionophore antibiotics and the nerve agents sarin , tabun and VX . In 1987 an expansion of the research area was discussed. We were talking about production units for anthrax , aflatoxins , botulinum toxin and tetanus toxin , to name just a few. These plans, including the construction of a BSL-4 laboratory, were never realized.

To keep up appearances, RRL also did contract research for the pharmaceutical, agricultural and medical sectors. About 15 percent of the projects were commercial and some research results were also published in professional journals.

completion

When the apartheid regime sought contact with the opposition African National Congress and Nelson Mandela , the end of Project Coast began to emerge. When Mandela was released in 1990, Frederik Willem de Klerk ordered that the development of deadly substances be stopped immediately. He later claimed that he was not informed of the full scope of RRL's research and development until early 1993.

In April 1990, Defense Minister Magnus Malan initiated the privatization of the front companies on instructions from De Klerk. RRL was privatized in 1991 and as one of the partners received e.g. For example, the former director Wynand Swanepoel received 4.5 million rand from the state, a multiple of what he himself invested in the company a few years ago (approx. 50,000 rand). The research facility is now part of the Agricultural Research Council .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Chandre Gould, Peter I. Folb: Project Coast: Apartheid's Chemical and Biological Warfare Program. United Nations Publications, 2002, p. 77
  2. ↑ Chandre Gould, Peter I. Folb: Project Coast: Apartheid's Chemical and Biological Warfare Program. United Nations Publications, 2002, p. 74
  3. ↑ Chandre Gould, Peter I. Folb: Project Coast: Apartheid's Chemical and Biological Warfare Program. United Nations Publications, 2002, p. 90
  4. ↑ Chandre Gould, Peter I. Folb: Project Coast: Apartheid's Chemical and Biological Warfare Program. United Nations Publications, 2002, p. 92
  5. ↑ Chandre Gould, Peter I. Folb: Project Coast: Apartheid's Chemical and Biological Warfare Program. United Nations Publications, 2002, p. 74
  6. ↑ Chandre Gould, Peter I. Folb: Project Coast: Apartheid's Chemical and Biological Warfare Program. United Nations Publications, 2002, p. 79
  7. ↑ Chandre Gould, Peter I. Folb: Project Coast: Apartheid's Chemical and Biological Warfare Program. United Nations Publications, 2002, p. 99
  8. ↑ Helen E. Purkitt, Stephen F. Burgess: The Rollback of South Africa's Chemical and Biological Warfare Program. 2001, p. 41
  9. ↑ Chandré Gould: South Africa's chemical and biological warfare program 1981 - 1995 ( Memento of January 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), PhD thesis, Rhodes University, 2005, p. 263
  10. ↑ Chandre Gould, Peter I. Folb: Project Coast: Apartheid's Chemical and Biological Warfare Program. United Nations Publications, 2002, p. 100