Special Hearings — Chemical And Biological Warfare Hearings — 1998-06-08

JAN LOURENS: I was a Permanent Force member working in the South African Air Force.  I worked in what was then known as One Air Depot.  I was the officer commanding of the old Metallurgy and Chemistry Laboratory.  During this time I met with an old friend, Dr Philip Mijburgh, who was at that stage based at Special Forces.  Philip approach me and asked me if I would be interested in joining Special Forces to work on what was an act of interest of ...(indistinct), the subject field of biomedical engineering.  I - the scope of the work at that stage was defined very very widely.  It wasn't specific per se chemical or biological warfare, and it was to assist with some laboratory tests and animal testing, some biomedical assistance, and I agreed.  I was transferred from the Air Force to a unit called Special Operations based at Special Forces Headquarters in the old Voortrekkerhoogte, and I subsequently met Dr Wouter Basson, who was then the officer commanding.  From there came a long relationship with him, all in the subject fields of primarily chemical warfare, to a much lesser extent that the biological warfare side.  I don't know if you want me to move on into a sort of a chronological order of where I was involved in which of the projects?

MR VALLY: Yes, but let me just - before we move into the projects, you were involved in the Air Force and then you moved to Special Forces?

JAN LOURENS: Yes.

MR VALLY: Can you tell us what program you were involved in when you were at Special Forces - sorry, is it Special Operation, I beg your pardon.

JAN LOURENS: That's right, it was a small unit called Special Operations.

MR VALLY: So Special Operations was a small unit within Special Forces?

JAN LOURENS: Yes, Special Operations was a very small unit.  There were a number of medical practitioners, medical doctors in the unit, and I was the only non-medical individual.  My task initially within the group was to supply the medical practitioners with technical assistance.  This technical assistance varied from installing and providing a radio net for the group of doctors, at that stage operational in the Reef, the Johannesburg-Pretoria area, supplying them with specific vehicles.  These specific vehicles were standard Sedan motors but had been converted to be high-speed vehicles, long range fuel tanks, special radio equipment and the like.
 I did assist from time to time in small weapons modifications such as converting an assault rifle with a collapsible butt so that the doctor could carry it in his kit.  So really, it was really very sort of basic technical support for the medical doctors.  
 Now this group of medical doctors, their main role was medical support to various operations, whether that was internal or a cross-border operation.  They supplied their support to primarily our own forces.

MR VALLY: Can you tell us why would a group of doctors within Special Forces need an it's radio network, as well as why would they need high-speed cars, Sedan cars?

JAN LOURENS: It would be quite frankly difficult to tell you exactly why they needed their own radio network, and why they needed their own specific special cars, because during that era we worked, as you most probably know, on a very strict need to know basis, and I was never exposed to the type of operations that they participated in or supported in.  It was never known within the unit that one of the colleagues would be going on an operation the next day, and it would be into Lesotho or Angola, or whatever the case may be.  It was just not known to us.
 So, I for example, on the radio net, I knew what sort of an area that I had to cover, what sort of frequencies I needed to use, etc, but the exact detail thereof and the application thereof was never known to me.  I, for example, was not a participant in the radio network.  I didn't have a radio, only the group of medical practitioners had radios.

MR VALLY: Did the programme that you were involved in, and we're still talking about the Special Operations programme within the Special Forces under the command of Dr Wouter Basson, did it involve animal experimentation?

JAN LOURENS: Yes, it did involve animal experimentation, but not within the unit Special Operations.  What we had, at Special Operations we had a small chemical laboratory, so-called Block C at Special Force Headquarters, where we manufactured a teargas, but there was no other chemical biological work done within Special Forces.  During the early days of my exposure to the programme, I was taken to a farm, just north of Pretoria, near the Roodeplaat Dam, and at this dam, or at this farm they developed an extensive biological warfare come animal experimentation facility.

MR VALLY: Okay, we'll come back to that in a short while.  Can you tell us what period we're talking about now?  You joined the Air Force, I believe, in 1982.

JAN LOURENS: Yes, I was transferred to Special Forces in '84, and my exposure to both the chemical side, being Delta G Scientific in Roodeplaat, could commence in 1985.

MR VALLY: Alright, in 1985, and this is the sight you were telling us about a short while ago,

JAN LOURENS: Yes.

MR VALLY: At this stage it was the Greenfields Development, there was nothing happening there?

JAN LOURENS: No, at that stage what was on the sight was an old farmhouse and a small lab complex and some animal cages.  There, for example, at that stage had been one chimpanzee at the farm, but there was no extensive animal facilities and animals available at that stage.  As far as I can recall, there was some baboon cages, even at that early stage.

MR VALLY: Now, this farm you say was located near the Roodeplaat Dam.

JAN LOURENS: Yes.

MR VALLY: How far from Pretoria is that?

JAN LOURENS: I'd say it's about 15 - 20 kilometres north from Pretoria.

MR VALLY: Who took you to this farm?

JAN LOURENS: Philip Mijburgh took me to the farm.

MR VALLY: And who did you meet at the farm?

JAN LOURENS: At the farm I met three individuals, Dr Daan Goosen, who was at that stage the man managing the facility, Dr Andre Immelman, and Dr James Davies.  All three of them were Veterinary Surgeons and both Dr Immelman and Dr Davies was Toxicologists.

MR VALLY: Now what were you told about this sight at Roodeplaat?  Why were you taken there?

JAN LOURENS: I was told at that stage absolutely nothing about this sight.  It wasn't a normal procedure that I would be taken to a sight and - or that I would be, you know - the full detail of the project or what they were doing at that stage, would be told to me in detail.

MR VALLY: At that stage, were you told anything?

JAN LOURENS: Well, I was aware of the fact that they were doing animal experimentation, and I was aware of the fact that they were evaluating this new generation teargas, but I was never briefed formally by either Dr Basson or Dr Mijburgh in terms of this is the actual programme and you know, this is the evaluation process procedures, whatever the case may be, and as a matter of fact, I, in none of the aspects of the projects were I ever briefed formally, but it wasn't an abnormal practice.  That's the way, sort of, things roll.  It was a very loose structure, it was a very loose programme.

MR VALLY: Were you - and I'm still talking at this stage when you're still a member of the Special Operations group within Special Forces - were you ever personally witness to the animal experimentations?

JAN LOURENS: Yes, I was.

MR VALLY: Can you indicate what you witnessed to?