Jenny Armini: I am 32 today. South Africa gave up nuclear weapons the year I was born. I am still waiting for France to follow.

Growing up in France as a child of a proud South African mother, emigrating to flee prosecution under apartheid, I have experienced my fair share of racism. The most common theme of xenophobia in colonial states centres on the idea of the “inferiority” of the nations they pillaged. The mantra of the right is, to put it in the crude form it deserves: “We the righteous might have committed unspeakable violence in those areas, but these pesky people are probably better off for it now. We might have brought suffering, but we also brought some delayed prosperity. Maybe not for your grandmother, whose village and crops we burned, but for you. You surely would not ever figure out how to build libraries, roads and skyscrapers without us, because progress only comes from the white man by some divine mandate. So be grateful, and try to be French. Or we will make it very clear, what we really think about you.”

Today, France sits in 290 nuclear weapons: the most barbaric inventions known to mankind. It proudly boasts its dedication to the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction, more commonly known as the MAD Theory. The nation’s leadership, Macron especially vocal, considers this a point of pride, and not as the monumental, chilling shame that it is.

South Africa, on the other hand, once possessed nuclear weapons. And then, in a triumphant global first, it fully voluntarily denuclearised.

South Africa’s journey towards giving up nuclear weapons is a fascinating chapter in the history of nuclear disarmament. In the 1970s, in a time of great tensions, South Africa secretly developed a nuclear weapons program. The apartheid-era government saw nuclear weapons as a means to bolster its security should anyone ever be bothered to intervene and to maintain its political influence as Africa’s only ever nuclear nation.

As rumours of South Africa’s nuclear program began to surface in the 1980s, it faced increasing international pressure and condemnation. The global community, particularly Western nations, expressed concerns about the potentially destabilizing effects of a nuclear-armed South Africa. While sitting on thousands of nuclear weapons themselves.

Then, in the late 1980s, South Africa underwent significant political transformations. The shameful apartheid system was dismantled, and negotiations for a democratic transition began.

The new leadership under President F. W. de Klerk embarked on a path of reform and engagement with the international community. In 1991, de Klerk announced that South Africa had indeed developed a number of nuclear weapons.

He added that our nation was about to dismantle its entire nuclear arsenal.

This announcement marked the first time a country voluntarily decided to give up its nuclear weapons program.

South Africa then cooperated with international verification efforts to prove the dismantlement of its nuclear weapons program. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other international bodies were involved in verifying the destruction of South Africa’s nuclear weapons and related infrastructure. The nation then signed the NPT in 1991, reaffirming our commitment to nuclear disarmament. The country’s decision to abandon nuclear weapons and join the treaty was widely praised by South Africa’s citizens, as well as by the international community, South Africa’s voluntary disarmament serves as a shining example and inspiration for subsequent non-proliferation and disarmament efforts. It demonstrated that countries with nuclear weapons ambitions could reverse course and contribute to global disarmament objectives.

In my early twenties, I had finally visited South Africa, and I fell in love right away, and in my late twenties, I had decided to leave France, and “return” here. South Africa’s decision to give up nuclear weapons remains a significant milestone in nuclear non-proliferation efforts, highlighting the potential for diplomacy and political will to achieve disarmament goals.

Now, we are waiting for France to, for once, have the humility to follow a good example. Join the right side of history — give up the 290 nukes.

Composed by Jenny Armini for Denuclearise.com