Council on Foreign Relations | South Africa: Why Countries Acquire and Abandon Nuclear Bombs

Nuclear 8

1. According to the article, what are the three broad categories of factors that shape a country’s decision to acquire or abandon nuclear weapons?
   A) Technology, budget, and geography
   B) Domestic politics, international relations, and national security
   C) Ideology, religion, and economy
   D) Military alliances, population size, and natural resources

B

2. In the late 1960s South Africa originally pursued nuclear technology for what stated purpose?
   A) Weapons from the very beginning
   B) Peaceful infrastructure and energy projects
   C) Exporting uranium to Europe
   D) Medical isotope production only

B

3. Which South African political party, representing the white Afrikaner minority, ruled the country throughout the entire nuclear weapons episode?
   A) African National Congress
   B) National Party
   C) Democratic Alliance
   D) Inkatha Freedom Party

B

4. Which country helped build South Africa’s first reactor (SAFARI-1) in 1965 and supplied it with highly enriched uranium?
   A) Soviet Union
   B) France
   C) United Kingdom
   D) United States

D

5. When the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty opened for signature in 1968, South Africa chose not to sign because its leaders
   A) believed isolation was caused by apartheid, not nuclear policy
   B) were waiting for Soviet approval
   C) thought the treaty banned all civilian nuclear energy
   D) had already secretly joined as a nuclear state

A

6. What 1974–1975 events dramatically escalated South Africa’s fear of communist encirclement?
   A) Cuban missile crisis in Africa
   B) Portuguese withdrawal from Mozambique and Angola, followed by Soviet- and Cuban-backed communist forces
   C) Independence of Namibia under SWAPO
   D) Fall of Rhodesia

B

7. By the time it dismantled its program, how many nuclear weapons had South Africa actually built?
   A) One prototype
   B) Six completed devices
   C) Nine warheads
   D) Zero (it only had a “capability”)

B

8. Who was the South African president that publicly revealed in parliament on March 24, 1993, that the country had built and then destroyed six nuclear weapons?
   A) Nelson Mandela
   B) P. W. Botha
   C) F. W. de Klerk
   D) Thabo Mbeki

C

9. Immediately after taking office in September 1989, President F. W. de Klerk ordered a report on disarmament primarily because he feared
   A) an imminent Soviet invasion
   B) that an incoming ANC government might inherit the weapons
   C) U.S. military intervention
   D) running out of uranium

B

10. Which of the following was a major international incentive for South Africa to denuclearize and join the NPT?
    A) Receiving new military aid from NATO
    B) Ending sanctions, rejoining the Olympics and global sports, and restoring trade and financial ties
    C) Becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council
    D) Gaining nuclear-weapon-state status under the NPT

B

11. What major Cold-War-related events in the late 1980s reduced South Africa’s perceived external threats?
    A) The Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union began to collapse
    B) The 1988 Angola peace accords, withdrawal of Cuban troops, and dissolution of the Soviet Union
    C) NATO bases established in Botswana and Zambia
    D) China replaced the USSR as the main sponsor of African communism

B

In what exact year did South Africa shut down its test site and enrichment facility and accede to the NPT as a non-nuclear-weapon state?
A) 1989
B) 1990
C) 1991
D) 1993

C

1. List and briefly explain the three overarching categories the CFR article uses to analyze nuclear decision-making.

Domestic politics – interest groups (scientists, defense contractors, mining industry), ruling party ideology, and leaders’ personal calculations.

International relations – prestige vs. sanctions, isolation, and bargaining power.

National security – perceived threats from neighbors or great powers and the desire for deterrence.

2. How did powerful domestic lobbies inside apartheid South Africa push the government toward a nuclear program in the late 1960s and 1970s?

Influential nuclear-power, military-arms, and mining industries lobbied the anti-communist National Party government for a program that would bring economic and strategic benefits.

3. Explain why growing international sanctions and pariah status in the 1970s–1980s failed to stop South Africa from weaponizing its program.

Leaders believed global hostility stemmed exclusively from apartheid, not the nuclear program, and that weapons would actually increase bargaining power rather than deepen isolation.

4. Describe the precise regional security crisis that finally tipped South Africa from a peaceful program into actual bomb-building.

The 1974 Portuguese Carnation Revolution led to rapid independence of Mozambique and Angola in 1975; both quickly became embroiled in civil wars with Soviet- and Cuban-backed communist forces, creating a fear of imminent encirclement by hostile Black communist states.

5. What specific actions did South Africa take in 1991 to begin denuclearization, and what major policy change occurred the same year?

Shut down its nuclear test site and uranium-enrichment facility, acceded to the NPT as a non-nuclear-weapon state, and officially ended apartheid.

6. Why did the National Party fear an ANC government inheriting nuclear weapons?

They viewed the ANC (and Nelson Mandela) as communist-linked and worried the weapons could be misused or transferred to hostile states or organizations such as Cuba, Libya, Iran, or the PLO.

7. Name at least four concrete international benefits South Africa gained (or hoped to gain) by dismantling its arsenal and ending apartheid.

Lifting of trade and financial sanctions, ending of the oil embargo, readmission to the Olympics and major sporting events (rugby/football World Cups, cricket), and full reintegration into the global economy and diplomatic community.

8. How did the end of the Cold War and specific regional conflicts directly lower the national-security justification for keeping the bombs?

The 1988 Angola peace agreement ended the war and led to Cuban troop withdrawal; the broader collapse of the Soviet Union and global communism eliminated the ideological and military backing for the neighboring regimes South Africa had feared.

1. South Africa remains the only country in history to have built a complete nuclear arsenal and then voluntarily and completely dismantled it.

True

2. The United States assisted South Africa’s early nuclear program by building the SAFARI-1 reactor and supplying highly enriched uranium.

True

3. South African leaders in the 1970s believed nuclear weapons would worsen their international isolation.

False

4. The independence of Mozambique and Angola, backed by Soviet and Cuban forces, was the decisive trigger for South Africa to weaponize its program.

True

5. F. W. de Klerk became president in September 1989 and almost immediately ordered a disarmament study because of rising ANC strength.

True

6. South Africa joined the NPT in 1991 as a recognized nuclear-weapon state.

False

The public announcement that South Africa had built and destroyed six nuclear weapons occurred on March 24, 1993.

True

8. Ending apartheid and denuclearization were closely linked decisions designed to end sanctions and rejoin the international community.

True