---
category: "Intelligence & Government"
tags:
  - Person
  - Israel
  - Military
summary: "Prime Minister of South Africa who hinted at nuclear weapons capability after the 1979 VELA Satellite detected a probable nuclear test."
born: 1916-01-12
died: 2006-10-31
location: "Paul Roux, Orange Free State, South Africa"
---

P. W. Botha was the Prime Minister of [[South Africa]]. 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.[^1]

### Footnotes

[^1]: Hersh, Seymour M. *The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy*. Random House, 1991. Chapter 20.