#1  Doctor Wauter Basson to the white courtesy phone please. Doctor Basson.
Project Coast - Research on birth control methods to reduce the black birth rate was one such area. Dr. Daan Goosen, the managing director of Roodeplaat Research Laboratories between 1983 and 1986, told Tom Mangold of the BBC that Project Coast had supported a project to develop a contraceptive that would have been applied clandestinely to blacks. Goosen reported that the project had developed a "vaccine" for males and females and that the researchers were still searching for a means by which it could be delivered to make black people sterile without them being made aware. Dr Shalk Van Rensburg stated that “fertility and fertility control studies comprised 18% of all projects”.[9] Testimony given at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) suggested that Project Coast researchers were also looking into putting birth control substances in water supplies.[8] The project officer for Project Coast, Dr. Woutter Basson, was put on trial for 64 charges, all of which were committed while he held that position.[9] Goosen testified that when asked what motivated him, Basson had replied that “although we do not have any doubt that Black people will take over the country one day, when my daughter asks me what I did to prevent this, at least my conscience will be clean”[10] There is much mystery surrounding the international involvement in the project, as it would not have been able to develop without some form of international support, but no country has been directly implicated despite strong links to Israel and Libya.[9] While focus on Apartheid South Africa’s research into fertility is barely part of the ongoing discussion regarding Project Coast, it can be argued that what occurred constituted conspiracy to commit genocide in international law. |
