Small quantities of Vibrio cholerae—the bacterium that causes the disease cholera—were produced at the principal South African BW research, testing, and production facility, Roodeplaat Research Laboratories (RRL), under the auspices of Project Coast. Some of these cholera bacteria were then provided to members of covert government paramilitary units, who may have used them to contaminate water supplies in neighboring states.

Dr. Mike Odendaal, a researcher at RRL, played a major role in a project to freeze-dry various pathogens, including V. cholerae, in larger than normal quantities (Project R47). After producing these organisms, he prepared 32 Schott Laboratory flasks of cholera bacteria, each with 10ml (or possibly 100ml; see BW Capabilities table, note 4), and gave them to Dr. André Immelman, RRL's R&D director. He also regularly provided Immelman with instructions concerning dosages and safety precautions for handling the dangerous substances he made. Immelman then stored these and other lethal materials inside a refrigerator in a bombproof, fireproof walk-in safe in his office. According to Army Surgeon-General Niel Knobel, members of the Co-ordinating Management Committee, the official Project Coast supervisory body, were "generally aware" of the studies being done on cholera.

On the purported instructions of Project Officer Wouter Basson, Immelman later secretly transferred cholera bacteria and other highly toxic substances to military and police personnel through various channels. Some of these dangerous materials were provided to Dr. R. F. Botha (alternately known as "Koos," "Mr. R," and "Frans Brink") and thence to Vernon Lange (otherwise known as "Mr. T" and "Theo"), both of whom were operatives of the Civil Co-operation Bureau (CCB), a covert assassination unit operating under the aegis of the Special Forces (SF). Others were provided directly to Chris Smit, Gert Otto, and Manie van Staden, three Security Branch (SB) officers from the South African Police (SAP). According to the 1989 "sales list" (TRC document 52), as well as firsthand testimony at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings or Basson's criminal trial, Immelman passed such items on, either to the aforementioned persons in innocuous public places like restaurants, or to Basson himself in the latter's office at South African Medical Services (SAMS) headquarters in Centurion. Another reported recipient of RRL's poisons was Johnny Koortzen, an ex-South African Defence Force (SADF) psychologist who in 1988 assumed control over Systems Research and Development, a company that bioengineer Jan Lourens had set up in part to manufacture special "applicators," i.e., arcane assassination devices. Some of these toxic materials and devices were subsequently used to assassinate designated "enemies of the state"—guerrillas in neighboring countries, troublesome prisoners, untrustworthy members of the security forces, or activists in the African National Congress (ANC) and other South African opposition groups.

Among the items that appear on the "sales list" are 22 bottles of V. cholerae, which Immelman distributed to Dr. Botha of the CCB in August of 1989. Basson later claimed that RRL's cholera bacteria were made solely to investigate and test inoculation methods and quality control, but this is scarcely likely given the covert deployment of so many other toxic pathogens. Odendaal himself suspected that the security forces may have utilized the cholera bacteria he made, which he felt were enough to produce a serious epidemic, to contaminate water supplies and thereby disrupt the Namibian elections of 1989. His fears were apparently well-founded. After obtaining the bottles of cholera from Immelman, Botha transferred them to CCB deputy chief Joe Verster. Verster then provided four to CCB regional commander Pieter Botes, who testified that he directed his subordinates Charlie Krause and Jose Daniels to dump the contents of two of them into the water supply at the Southwest Africa Peoples Organisation (SWAPO) refugee camp outside Windhoek in Namibia. In the end, the operation failed to produce the desired contamination effect because of the high chlorine content of the water. Moreover, if Dr. Schalk van Rensburg (the Animal Centre director at RRL) can be believed, Basson also suggested on one occasion that the political problems in the Eastern Cape should be sorted out with cholera bacteria.

In 1990 President F. W. De Klerk prohibited the carrying out of any further work on lethal CBW agents, and in 1993 Project Coast was officially terminated. The stocks of BW agents produced by South Africa were supposedly destroyed in conformity with international agreements, despite the fact that the actual destruction process was never independently verified and there is evidence that some of the substances were removed and retained by Coast scientists. Although several laboratories there continue to produce highly toxic substances for normal industrial, veterinary, or agricultural use, none of these substances appear to be intended for deployment as lethal anti-personnel agents. The current government still has access to the type of technical expertise and the sort of sophisticated R&D facilities that would enable it to initiate a new BW program, but there is little reason to suppose that it has any interest in doing so.

	Updated February 2006