This Day in History: 12 March 1968
Minister of Defence, P.W. Botha, reports to the Senate on the Arms Industry and defines the main aims of South Africa's defence policy.
The paranoia that afflicted the Apartheid State regarding a potential uprising by Black South Africans, supported by the Soviet Union and the reluctance of Western Governments to supply South Africa with arms convinced the regime that it needed to develop its own means of producing and servicing its armed forces. These included the provision of manufacturing capabilities regarding nuclear arms, ammunition, aeronautics and armour. These are among the points outlined by P.W. Botha on 12 March 1968, the then Minister of Defence. History has shown that South Africa was successful in accomplishing most of these goals that emerged from this report. Unfortunately, the greatest threat to Apartheid was not a military in nature, but a social one that comprised of people and organisations within and outside South Africa, exerting pressure on the state to eventually abandon Apartheid
