Special Hearings — Chemical And Biological Warfare Hearings — 1998-07-07

MR VALLY: I'm going to give you a list, and I don't expect you to be in the position to respond immediately, and maybe during the break for tea you can have a look at the list.  It's a list of some 102 companies which are possibly military front companies or companies related thereto, and if you can indicate to us when you have a chance to look at the list, as to which of these companies you have knowledge of, and which companies you were directly involved in.
 What was your relationship with Dr Basson?

DR MIJBURGH: Dr Basson was the project officer, he was initially my Commanding Officer at the medical division at Special Forces, and later in my capacity as Managing Director of Delta-G Scientific, he was the project officer who was responsible for the Defence Force's chemical research needs, and he liaised with us in terms of the work we did for the Defence Force.

MR VALLY: Can you tell us, your appointment at Delta-G as Managing Director, was this at the behest, at the request or on the recommendation of Dr Wouter Basson?

DR MIJBURGH: I don't know what Dr Basson's role was in that, but the job was offered to me by the former Surgeon-General, Nico Nieuwoudt in 1985.

MR VALLY: What is your personal relationship like with Dr Wouter Basson?

DR MIJBURGH: Over the years we became friends.  I first got to know him as a medical student when he was a clinical assistant and over the years we became friends and we shared an interest in road-running and we ran together in the mornings and we also played squash, and we also socialised.

MR VALLY: Would you say that he trusts you implicitly?

DR MIJBURGH: I would think so, yes.

MR VALLY: Now when you were at Delta-G, remember you were a medical doctor and this was a plant producing chemicals, what was your role there?

DR MIJBURGH: I was the Managing Director, so I was responsible for the overall management of the company.

MR VALLY: And what about control over research, were you aware of what research was being conducted?

DR MIJBURGH: Yes.

MR VALLY: Were you aware of what was being produced at Delta-G?

DR MIJBURGH: Yes.

MR VALLY: And were you aware that the substances which were produced at Delta-G were tested at Roodeplaat Research Laboratories?

DR MIJBURGH: I was not aware of that because we didn't have anything to do with the testing of any substances, but I would assume that it was to be tested at Roodeplaat if it had to be tested.

MR VALLY: Can you tell us what you manufactured?

DR MIJBURGH: I don't have a complete list at my disposal, but we produced CR, which is an irritant and was specifically produced for the Defence Force, and then there was a variety of products such as potassium hydrochloride, ATPB, as you already know methaqualone, MDMA and a variety of other substances such as chloroconsulphate, etc.

MR VALLY: Let's just stop there, you mentioned methaqualone and that's confirmed that this was the active ingredient of mandrax.

DR MIJBURGH: That's correct.

MR VALLY: Are you saying you were manufacturing it on a large scale?

DR MIJBURGH: Yes, we did.

MR VALLY: Can you give us approximate quantities?

DR MIJBURGH: I don't know exactly how much was manufactured, but there was an order from the Defence Force for 1000 kilograms, as far as I can remember.

MR VALLY: In addition to that were there any other orders you received besides the 1000 kilograms?

DR MIJBURGH: From the Defence Force?

MR VALLY: From anyone.

DR MIJBURGH: Various orders received from various companies.  I mentioned some of the substances to you, and we made these substances for a variety of people.

MR VALLY: I'm sorry, let's focus on methaqualone, the active ingredient for mandrax.  You had an order of 1000 kilograms from the Defence Force, did you receive any other orders from any other source?

DR MIJBURGH: For methaqualone?

MR VALLY: That's correct.

DR MIJBURGH: No.

MR VALLY: Are you aware of any other quantities of methaqualone that you manufactured?

DR MIJBURGH: Not as far as I can remember.

MR VALLY: Are you aware of manufacturing any tablets?

DR MIJBURGH: No.

MR VALLY: Are you absolutely certain?

DR MIJBURGH: Yes, Delta-G did not manufacture tablets.

MR VALLY: Are you aware of any other institution which you were involved in which made tablets?

DR MIJBURGH: No.

MR VALLY: Are you aware of any institution you were involved in which encapsulated mandrax?

DR MIJBURGH: No.

MR VALLY: Now let's go on to what you called MDMA, is this what is commonly called ecstasy?

DR MIJBURGH: I don't know, Mr Vally.

MR VALLY: I'm not a chemical expert, I'm not exactly sure what is ecstasy and what isn't, but the substance we made, I don't know its exact chemical name, but it was an amphetamine type substance.  The name ecstasy I only heard about a year or so ago after the arrest of Dr Basson.

MR VALLY: You aware of the code name Baxil?

DR MIJBURGH: Yes, that was the code name for the project for the manufacture of MDMA.

MR VALLY: And you're aware that it's potentially illegal and that you may risk being arrested for being in possession thereof?

DR MIJBURGH: We were given the assurance that it was not illegal in terms of the approvals which Delta-G received for it.

MR VALLY: So you were not concerned?

DR MIJBURGH: That it was illegal?

MR VALLY: That's correct.

DR MIJBURGH: No.

MR VALLY: You didn't need any indemnity, you were not concerned that in case you were caught in possession of this substance that you may be arrested, and you wanted someone higher up to protect you from such arrest?

DR MIJBURGH: We had such an assurance which we received from the Surgeon-General at that stage.

MR VALLY: But you were concerned enough to raise the issue?

DR MIJBURGH: Yes.

MR VALLY: So why were you aware that it was an illegal substance, you didn't know what it was?

DR MIJBURGH: I know it was some kind of an amphetamine and amphetamines were scheduled substances in South Africa.

MR VALLY: Because you know what I'm getting to, I'm getting to TRC 77(a), I'm sure your counsel has it in front of you.  It's got a long name, which we think is a code name, and in brackets it's got Baxil, do you see the document?

DR MIJBURGH: Yes.

MR VALLY: I want you to read the third sentence onwards into the record please.  This is a letter addressed to you, Dr P A Mijburgh at Medchem Technologies on the 7th of August 1992, signed by D P Knobel, Surgeon-General.  Will you read it into the record please?

DR MIJBURGH: Reads
"In respect of your request for protection and
indemnity against prosecution I would like to notify you that it is only within our capability to give this indemnity in so far as the raw material and successful delivery of the product to our project officer is concerned."

MR VALLY: Carry on.

DR MIJBURGH: "Any irregularity which exists or arises during the production as a result of any illegal delivery to any other clients directly or indirectly as a result of theft from the plant, it will be the full responsibility of the managing board of your production plant."

MR VALLY: So you were aware that you were potentially making an illegal substance which may result in y our prosecution?

DR MIJBURGH: Yes, but we had the assurance that was not illegal in terms of the approval or permission which we had received.

MR VALLY: Where did you get this assurance from?

DR MIJBURGH: From General Knobel.

MR VALLY: Do you have any other document besides the one I've shown you?

DR MIJBURGH: No.

MR VALLY: And is that the approval you're saying that you received, the indemnity you received?

DR MIJBURGH: Yes.

MR VALLY: I see.  So you believe this was sufficient to protect you from prosecution?

DR MIJBURGH: I thought so, yes.

MR VALLY: And at that stage you didn't know that Baxil was what we call ecstasy today?

DR MIJBURGH: No.

MR VALLY: So you didn't know what you were manufacturing?