Apartheid is one of the most prominent examples in modern history of virulent tribalism overriding basic moral decency. Built on racial discrimination and segregation, apartheid developed a distorting effect on society by encouraging and promoting the worst of human behaviors. Violence and brutality defined apartheid over its 47 years of operation. Even with these effects and many others in full view of South African citizens and the world, the underbelly of apartheid, marked by deceit, paranoia, torture, and murder reveals how the system created space for twisted individuals to act out their perverted conceptions without fear of retribution or recourse. Wouter Basson, an Afrikaner doctor, is one of those people that thrived in the dystopian
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As Minister of Defence from 1968 to 1978 P.W. Botha was at the center of this ideology, promoting a “total strategy” that included the reorientation of political, economic, military, and social institutions against the supposed communist menace. Additionally, Botha and other members in leadership saw neighboring countries as the frontline against communism, using the pretext of national security to continuously intervene in other states’ affairs. According to Mitchell Reiss, an American diplomat, the ex-head of South African military intelligence General H. D. E. V. du Toit questioned the logic of the communist hysteria, saying, “I don’t think we ever thought it was feasible for anyone to attack us from the north.” Nevertheless, the bunker mentality of South African political and military leaders allowed secret military programs to flourish. Botha and the military gained increasing control of the apartheid apparatus and created a self-reinforcing cycle where disturbances, which were often caused by the state’s severe tactics, were used as excuses to develop nuclear, chemical, and biological …show more content…
He began interacting with high-ranking military officials and received the award of the Order of the Southern Cross for his efforts. The SADF High Command identified Basson as the ideal candidate for the forthcoming chemical and weapons program. In this neurotic environment of paranoia, Wouter Basson and his intellectual expertise matched with the demand for loyal soldiers willing to utilize extreme measures to protect the regime. The program was solely administered by the SADF under the Surgeon-General’s office and operated in some form until the ANC took over government in 1995. A management committee called the Co-ordinating Management Committee (CMC) oversaw the program and included the Chief of the SADF, the Surgeon-General, and other top military officials. Basson’s first overseas mission for the program was to determine how other countries conducted their covert chemical and biological weapons programs. He returned in 1981 and reported that other countries used front corporations to develop their programs. Although his findings were often partially or completely untrue, particularly when related to the American and Soviet programs, Basson had identified important mechanisms to set up the fledgling
As Minister of Defence from 1968 to 1978 P.W. Botha was at the center of this ideology, promoting a “total strategy” that included the reorientation of political, economic, military, and social institutions against the supposed communist menace. Additionally, Botha and other members in leadership saw neighboring countries as the frontline against communism, using the pretext of national security to continuously intervene in other states’ affairs. According to Mitchell Reiss, an American diplomat, the ex-head of South African military intelligence General H. D. E. V. du Toit questioned the logic of the communist hysteria, saying, “I don’t think we ever thought it was feasible for anyone to attack us from the north.” Nevertheless, the bunker mentality of South African political and military leaders allowed secret military programs to flourish. Botha and the military gained increasing control of the apartheid apparatus and created a self-reinforcing cycle where disturbances, which were often caused by the state’s severe tactics, were used as excuses to develop nuclear, chemical, and biological …show more content…
He began interacting with high-ranking military officials and received the award of the Order of the Southern Cross for his efforts. The SADF High Command identified Basson as the ideal candidate for the forthcoming chemical and weapons program. In this neurotic environment of paranoia, Wouter Basson and his intellectual expertise matched with the demand for loyal soldiers willing to utilize extreme measures to protect the regime. The program was solely administered by the SADF under the Surgeon-General’s office and operated in some form until the ANC took over government in 1995. A management committee called the Co-ordinating Management Committee (CMC) oversaw the program and included the Chief of the SADF, the Surgeon-General, and other top military officials. Basson’s first overseas mission for the program was to determine how other countries conducted their covert chemical and biological weapons programs. He returned in 1981 and reported that other countries used front corporations to develop their programs. Although his findings were often partially or completely untrue, particularly when related to the American and Soviet programs, Basson had identified important mechanisms to set up the fledgling