Afriforum Has No Shame in Giving Wouter Basson a Platform

It would seem AfriForum has no shame in hiding their pro-apartheid sympathies. After Kallie Kriel noted that “apartheid was not a crime against humanity”, he now hosts South Africa’s very own Josef Mengele to lead a discussion on Project Coast. Of course, the comments on social media were flooded with Afrikaner verkramptes, who yearn for the days of apartheid. Not only hailing Basson as a “hero”, but a “good man”. This walking corpse is the poster boy for the apartheid regime’s brutality and the secret operations they conducted to maim, torture, poison, and kill innocent people. Veritable crimes against humanity.

Wouter Basson’s Apartheid-Era Crimes

Wouter Basson, an ex-South African Army Brigadier, was founder and head of ‘Project Coast‘, the Army’s secret biological and chemical warfare programme between 1981 and 1993. Nicknamed ‘Dr. Death’, he went to trial in Pretoria 1999, charged with sixty-one counts of murder, conspiracy to murder, possession of addictive drugs, and fraud. He refused to apply for amnesty, but was called to give evidence to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) inquiry into biological and chemical warfare. Basson served as the head of special operations for the South African Defence Force (SADF) in the 1980s and early 1990s, leading efforts to manufacture illegal drugs, poisons, and cyanide suicide capsules for military use.

In 2013, the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) found Wouter Basson guilty of unprofessional and unethical conduct for supplying cyanide and teargas during his military career. Despite the 2013 guilty finding, the disciplinary process has been plagued by endless delays, appeals, and legal challenges regarding committee bias. The High Court in Pretoria dismissed Basson’s bid for a permanent stay of proceedings, meaning his long-delayed disciplinary and sentencing process moved forward.

Why Give Basson a Platform?

Why are we affording people like him a platform? Well, perhaps because AfriSol is now unashamedly saying the silent part of their ideologies out loud. They’re trying to avoid scrutiny by saying “we’re not hosting the event”, while literally hosting it in their Afriforum Teater in Pretoria. One of the towns they are trying to convert into an Orania 2.0 microcosm. This man is part of the scourge that was apartheid and the fact that we are treating this man as an expert in 2026, is shameful. But it shows us where the priorities of certain people from the “volk” lies.Dr Tristán Kapp, PhD is a Religion Scholar: Digital Religion, Cults, AI, Conspirituality & Politics, a SARChI NRF Fellow: Religion, Cults & Politics | Co-Editor @JSR_ASRSA | Senior Fellow, House Mazibuko Institute. Dr Tristán Kapp writes in his personal capacity and all views are his own.Follow Dr Tristán Kapp on FacebookFollow Dr Tristán Kapp on Twitter XVisit the Dr Tristán Kapp Website