IOL: "If al-Qaeda or any other revolutionary group or rogue state were to consider building the bomb, they would almost certainly have to walk the same path South Africa did in the 1970s and 1980s to achieve that objective."

This assertion sets the tone for a soon-to-be published examination of how and why South Africa built six atom bombs and then abandoned its nuclear weapons programme.

The claim is made by South African author Al J Venter to deal with the vexed issue of nuclear weapons proliferation.

The old South African regime always insisted it would resist threats to national survival with all the force at its command. So what force was available to Pretoria, and how would it have been utilised?