Keynote address by Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation at DIRCO-Unisa Seminar on "The United Nations at 80"
Programme Director, Dr Maureen Tong
Principal and Vice-Chancellor Professor Puleng LenkaBula
Esteemed Panellists
Recipient of the Oliver Tambo Ubuntu Award for Diplomacy, Ambassador Nhlapo
Ambassador Mxakato-Diseko
Intelligentsia of UNISA
Members of the South African Foreign Service
Miss K Mochawe, Deputy Secretary General of the National Student Representative Council
Nelson Mandela in 1998 at the 53rd United Nations General Assembly said: "In reality, no rational answer can be advanced to explain in a satisfactory manner what, in the end, is the consequence of Cold War inertia and an attachment to the use of the threat of brute force, to assert the primacy of some States over others."
On this day, 6 August, 80 years ago, the world witnessed its darkest scientific achievement: the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Three days later, Nagasaki was also bombed. Those blasts did not merely destroy cities. They ruptured the conscience of humanity. Today, we are called not just to remember but to act—to reflect on the progress made in nuclear non-proliferation while confronting the challenges that continue to define the disarmament regime.
The United Nations was born in the ruins of war to ensure peace through cooperation. Its very first General Assembly resolution—Resolution 1(1) of 1946—called for the elimination of nuclear weapons. 80 years later, those same weapons remain not only in existence but in modernised form.
At the center stands the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), adopted in 1968. Unfortunately, the NPT rests on a delicate bargain: five states were recognized as Nuclear Weapon States while all others were expected to forgo nuclear weapons. Today, 191 countries have joined the NPT, yet three states—India, Pakistan, and Israel—have never signed it.
South Africa's own experience stands as a moral compass. The apartheid regime developed a covert nuclear weapons programme, constructing six fully operational warheads. The ANC-led government dismantled this arsenal and fully embraced disarmament. We joined the NPT as a non-nuclear-weapon state and helped establish the African Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone through the Pelindaba Treaty.
While we acknowledge progress, we must confront challenges. Nuclear-armed states are not disarming; they are upgrading. The NPT is in danger of a credibility crisis because its implementation has been selectively enforced. The Eleventh Review Conference of the NPT in 2026 must be a turning point.
South Africa continues to advocate for a nuclear-free world because it is necessary. Nuclear weapons exacerbate global inequality and divert resources from development. The pursuit of disarmament is the foundation of any genuine international order rooted in justice.
The world stands at a critical juncture. We see nuclear posturing in Europe and strategic escalation in the Indo-Pacific. South Africa's position is resolute: peace, security and multilateralism must be our pillars. We must reject the moral relativism that tolerates weapons of mass destruction in some hands while criminalizing them in others.
Let us remember that the greatest legacy we can leave is not power, but peace.
I thank you.
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