South Africa and "The Bomb"

[ThomWV]

South Africa had the atom bomb (they detonated one during testing in the southern Ocean) and then abandoned continued development efforts. They then dismantled their nuclear program. I had always presumed that it was fear of the bomb being in the hands of a soon-to-rule black Government that persuaded the exiting white regime to make sure not enough of the weapons program remained to be resurectable. However I've long understood that my guess as to why they would abandon an expensive and successful (the first bomb did indeed go off as predicted) nuclear program was probably naive.

Can someone more knowledgeable about their program tell me why they abandoned it?

[matt819]

1. They signed on

They signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. One of the requirements was to destroy all components of its nuclear program. It did with this financial assistance from the US, and all destruction was verified by a number of USG officials.

If memory serves, this occurred after the ANC had won the first free and fair election in April 1994 and had nothing to do with the racial issues you raise in your post.

[HamdenRice]

4. The bigger question OP is asking ...

is why they signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty in the first place. That is, the first decision was to abandon weapons; the second was thereby to come into compliance.

[oneighty]

2. Google

South Africa and the Affordable Bomb.

I have read about their bomb program before. It seems the program at first was to make others believe they had Atomic Bombs. (Where have we heard that before?)

In the end it was a political decision to stop the program.

Did they really ever detonate a successful bomb? Or was it a pretend bomb?

180

[HamdenRice]

3. SA destroyed the bomb because it served no strategic purpose

Countries develop atomic weapons for geo-strategic reasons -- usually centered on deterrence. While the US developed the bomb to end WWII and in a race with Nazi Germany to be the first to possess such weapons, and then as deterrence against Soviet expansion and Soviet use of nuclear weapons, non-superpowers develop the bomb as a deterrence against non-nuclear forces.

SA developed the bomb because it feared that its neighbors would eventually form a coalition and invade either directly ("cross the Limpopo") or support non-conventional guerilla war against its apartheid policies.

The bomb was a form of blackmail against Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Angola, Tanzania, and Botswana -- if your support of the anti-apartheid movement becomes too much of a threat, we will bomb you.

As SA moved toward negotiation and majority rule, it ceased to pose a threat to its neighbors, and its neighbors posed no threat to it.

Under both the departing National Party reasoning and incoming ANC reasoning, the bomb served no purpose. It was an expensive, pointless weapon.

By contrast, abandoning nuclear weapons was an international political windfall, bolstering SA's position of international moral leader on human rights, racial and disarmament issues.

edited

[AngryAmish]

5. Best post of the week

[HamdenRice]

6. Thank you very much! nt

[ThomWV]

7. Thank You Very Much

Now I feel like I have a little bit better grasp on what happened. Your version - and I am sure there are others - seems completely plausible and fits what I do know of circumstances and outcomes.

It is knowledge of these little things, even if it is only cursory knowledge, that allows one to make successful counterarguments should the need arise.

By the way, yes, indeed they did explode one, but as far as I know only one.