vault backup: 2026-10-09 21:03:20

10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/P.W. Botha.md

@@ -15,10 +15,17 @@ tags:
   - SouthAfrica
   - Israel
   - NuclearWeapons
-summary: "P.W. Botha (1916-2006), South African Prime Minister (1978-1984) and State President (1984-1989), forged a covert wartime alliance with Israel and, after the 1979 VELA detection, publicly hinted at nuclear weapons capability."
+summary: "P.W. Botha (1916-2006), South African Prime Minister (1978-1984) and State President (1984-1989), forged a covert wartime alliance with Israel and, in 1979 told his party's congress that South Africa had weapons not known about."
 born: 1916-01-12
 died: 2006-10-31
 location: "Paul Roux, Orange Free State, South Africa"
+relations:
+  - type: subject_of
+    with: "[[VELA Satellite]]"
+    role: "prime minister whose September 25, 1979 statement about unknown weapons drew comment from the U.S. embassy"
+    start: 1979-09-25
+    end: 1979-10-26
+    fn: 4
 ---
 
 P.W. Botha served as Prime Minister of [[South Africa]] from 1978 to 1984 and as State President from 1984 to 1989. He had also served as Defense Minister and played a key role in developing South Africa's military and nuclear capabilities.[^1]
@@ -31,10 +38,13 @@ Minutes of 1975 meetings between Botha and [[Shimon Peres]], reported by the [[M
 
 ### VELA Incident (1979)
 
-On September 25, 1979, three days after a [[VELA Satellite]] recorded probable evidence of a nuclear explosion over the South Indian Ocean, Botha warned the Cape National Party congress that South Africa had and could produce sufficient arms to counter terrorism. He hinted that they might have military weapons that others did not know about, suggesting that South Africa and its Israeli partners had successfully conducted a secret nuclear test.[^3]
+On September 25, 1979, three days after a [[VELA Satellite]] recorded a double flash from a region that included the southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans, Botha warned the Cape National Party congress that South Africa had and could produce sufficient arms to counter terrorism. He hinted that they might have military weapons that others did not know about, which [[Seymour Hersh]] wrote suggested that South Africa and its Israeli partners had successfully conducted a secret nuclear test.[^3]
+
+A telegram from the American embassy in Pretoria dated October 26, 1979 recorded Botha's statement to the Cape National Party congress on September 25 "that South Africa had weapons to fight terrorism and that if anyone thought of trying something else, they might find that South Africa had weapons that are not known about." The ambassador wrote that he had asked Foreign Affairs Secretary [[Brand Fourie]] about the statement on September 27, and that Foreign Minister [[Pik Botha]] interjected on October 26 that the prime minister was referring to conventional weapons. The ambassador replied that there had been "media speculation at the time that P.W. was possibly hinting at nuclear weapons (speculation which was not specifically scotched subsequently)." The telegram records Pik Botha as saying that he had spoken to the prime minister by telephone.[^4]
 
 ### Footnotes
 
 [^1]: Ben-Menashe, Ari. *Profits of War: Inside the Secret U.S.-Israeli Arms Network*. Sheridan Square Press, 1992 (TrineDay reprint, 2015).
 [^2]: Chris McGreal, "Revealed: How Israel offered to sell SA nuclear weapons," *Mail & Guardian*, May 24, 2010. https://mg.co.za/article/2010-05-24-revealed-how-israel-offered-to-sell-sa-nuclear-weapons
 [^3]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.
+[^4]: Telegram from the Embassy in South Africa to the Department of State, October 26, 1979, "Suspected Nuclear Event: Talk With South African Foreign Minister," Foreign Relations of the United States, 1977-1980, vol. XVI, Southern Africa, Document 366, paragraphs 7 and 8. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1977-80v16/d366