The poisoners on South Africa's toxic past, 1973-2020 / Imraan Coovadia.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Coovadia, Imraan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Poisoning.

Biological weapons.

Zimbabwe--Politics and government.

Zimbabwe.

Politics and government.

South Africa--Politics and government.

South Africa.

Biological weapons--South Africa.

South Africa--Politics and government--1994-.

Zimbabwe--Politics and government--1980-.

Poisoning--South Africa.

Poisoning--Zimbabwe.

Project Coast (South Africa).

Biological warfare.

Chemical warfare.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

261 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cape Town, South Africa : Umuzi, 2021.

Summary:

"The Poisoners is a history of four devastating chapters in the making of the region, seen through the disturbing use of toxins and accusations of poisoning circulated by soldiers, spies, and politicians in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Imraan Coovadia's fascinating new book exposes the secret use of poisons and diseases in the Rhodesian bush war and independent Zimbabwe, and the apparent connection to the 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States; the enquiry into the chemical and biological warfare programme in South Africa known as Project Coast, discovered through the arrest and failed prosecution of Dr Wouter Basson; the use of toxic compounds such as Virodene to treat patients at the height of the Aids epidemic in South Africa, and the insistence of the government that proven therapies like Nevirapine, which could have saved hundreds of thousands of lives, were in fact poisons; and the history of poisoning and accusations of poisoning in the modern history of the African National Congress, from its guerrilla camps in Angola to Jacob Zuma's suggestion that his fourth wife collaborated with a foreign intelligence agency to have him murdered. But The Poisoners is not merely a book of history. It is also a meditation, by a most perceptive commentator, on the meaning of race, on the unhappy history of black and white in southern Africa, and on the nature of good and evil."-- Back cover.

Contents:

Introduction

Rhodesian poison

The principals

Lothar's potions

Africa's solutions

Radio potato.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

9781415210727

1415210721

OCLC:

1277038652