Small quantities of cyanide, including sodium cyanide salt (whose lethal dose in humans is approximately 200mg when ingested) may have been produced, were certainly stored and distributed, and were possibly deployed, under the auspices of Project Coast. Cyanide was available both at Delta G Scientific, the principal South African CW research and production facility, and at Roodeplaat Research Laboratories (RRL), the main BW research, testing, and production facility. Some of this cyanide was then encapsulated or added to foodstuffs, and may have ended up being consumed by targeted enemies.

According to Project Officer Wouter Basson, cyanide was periodically acquired from America or Europe through chemical suppliers, and then kept in medical stores at Special Forces (SF) headquarters. It could only be issued from these stores against an operative's signature, since it could be used as a weapon. Moreover, Dr. Johan Koekemoer testified that cyanide was always available at Delta G, since it was a common chemical reagent. Some of this cyanide was then apparently transferred from SF headquarters and/or Delta G to RRL, where a portion of it was encapsulated. At RRL, Dr. Mike Odendaal and Dr. James Davies were involved in testing the effects of various poisonous substances by mixing them into food and beverages. After producing these poisons and contaminated items, they handed them over to Dr. André Immelman, RRL's R&D director. Odendaal 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 bomb-proof, fireproof walk-in safe in his office.

On the purported instructions of Basson, Immelman later secretly transferred cyanide 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 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 capsules of sodium cyanide, 4 grams of mercuric oxycyanide, and peppermint-flavored chocolates with cyanide, which were listed as having been distributed by Immelman to Koos and Chris Smit. Basson disputed the claims by other expert witnesses that these were undoubtedly murder weapons, arguing instead that they had been used to train South African agents on how to avoid being poisoned by the enemy. Although the Project Officer later admitted that he had personally received cyanide capsules from Immelman, he claimed that he had thereafter delivered a batch of them to SF headquarters for legitimate uses. He also stated that he provided some to SF officer Johan Theron for distribution to deep reconnaissance operatives. Basson's claims cannot be accepted at face value, however, given the South African penchant for using toxic substances to murder or sicken designated enemies. For example, under the rubric of "Operation Dual," a clandestine program initiated by the SADF in 1979, chemical agents were regularly used by the D[elta]40 and Barnacle units — the CCB's predecessors — to secretly eliminate prisoners and security risks. Theron, who was the SADF's chief executioner in these actions, denied that he had access to cyanide capsules per se but insisted that Basson knowingly provided him with other drugs that he used to dispose of people. With the establishment of the Teen-Rewolusionêre Inligting Taakspan (TREWITS: Counter-Revolutionary Intelligence Task Force) in the mid-1980s, the "Dual" assassination program was later expanded and coordinated at an even higher level.

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 standard CW 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. Although several chemical plants there continue to produce highly toxic substances for normal industrial and 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 CW program, but there is little reason to suppose that it has any interest in doing so.

	Updated March 2004