The City of Tshwane has gone boldly in boosting South Africa’s national security preparedness with the launch of an intensive Radiological and Nuclear Smuggling Detection (RNSD) Training program. Hosted on Monday, 12 May 2025, in the nation’s capital, the high-level training brought together 25 elite operatives from the law enforcement community, the military, and strategic regulatory agencies in a bid to counter the growing threat posed by radiological terrorism and illicit nuclear material commerce.
In what is described as a new model of revolutionary international co-operation and inter-agency collaboration, the seven-day training course features six veteran instructors from the United States in collaboration with South African specialists to impart frontline officers with the technical as well as operating skills to spot, intercept, and neutralize radiological and nuclear material being transported.
A coalition of Guardians
Participants in the training include officers from the South African Police Service (SAPS) Explosives Unit, Emergency Services Division (ESD), South African Military Health Services (SAMHS), Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa (NECSA), the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA), the Border Management Authority (BMA), and the Tshwane Metro Police Department (TMPD).
“This is not training,” said Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Community Safety Alderman Hannes Coetzee.
“It is a front line – a statement that Tshwane, and South Africa as a whole, will not stand idly by in the face of emerging radiological and nuclear threats.”
A hidden but growing threat
The smuggling of radioactive material, also known as “nuclear smuggling”, is an international concern of serious proportions. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported dozens of confirmed incidents worldwide involving the smuggling of nuclear and other radioactive material to be used for nefarious purposes. Although South Africa has not yet seen its nightmare event, it is warned that the country – with its strategic sea ports, porous borders, and advanced nuclear research facilities – is not out of the woods yet.
“The smuggling of radioactive materials is not a theoretical threat,” Coetzee claimed.
“It is a real and evolving risk that undermines public health, environmental security, and global stability.”
The exercise equips operatives with mobile detection vehicles, radiation signature identification technology, and the capability to conduct immediate field assessment and containment operations.
Enhancing readiness through inter-agency synergy
The program is a step forward toward anticipatory governance, with governments abandoning passive inclinations in favor of proactive planning. This is especially crucial in a geopolitical order increasingly characterized by transnational threats, from terrorism to criminal networks.
“We are building an interagency coalition that is science-based and motivated by a sacred duty to protect life,” said Coetzee.
“This is operationally informed, intelligence-based work.”
Participants are being subjected to scenario-based simulations, such as mock border crossings, vehicle searches, emergency decontamination procedures, and combined response exercises, to prepare them for actual deployment.
Why Tshwane?
As the administrative capital of South Africa, Tshwane has a number of strategic government ministries, nuclear research facilities, and major transport routes – rendering it both a probable target and a critical control point in preventing the spread of hazardous materials.
The fact that the training will be hosted in Tshwane places a spotlight on the City’s commitment to national leadership in safety, security, and emergency preparedness.
“This program is a step in a direction towards fulfilling our moral, constitutional, and strategic responsibility to protect our people,’ Coetzee said.
“The people of Tshwane and South Africa deserve a state not only for responding to crises, but one that gets ahead and prevents them.”
Global collaboration, local impact
The presence of American experts signifies heightened global cooperation in non-proliferation nuclear activities and radiological material security. The training is part of a comprehensive global effort to help developing countries achieve resilience against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats.
The experts assert that such collaborations also enhance diplomatic ties and offer platforms for technology, intelligence, and strategy sharing.
Looking ahead
The RNSD training is part of a larger national policy of port and border security, improving detection facilities, and giving local authorities crisis management capabilities.
“We are for a culture of governance founded on evidence-based development, professional public service, and zero-tolerance to any threat – criminal, ideological, or environmental,” Coetzee recapitulated.
“Combating nuclear smuggling is a non-negotiable part of that mission.”
Background context
South Africa is the only country to possess African nuclear facilities and a nuclear weapons legacy (voluntarily dismantled in the early 1990s). Though it is seen as a pioneer in nuclear technology for peaceful use, its history and geography target it as a focus point for worldwide counter-nuclear trafficking.
Across the globe, governments are increasing nuclear threat detection investments as they fear non-state actors getting radiological materials to make so-called “dirty bombs” – radioactive-particle-spewing explosive bombs. Aside from causing mass panic, those attacks can cause long-term environmental damage and economic dislocation even if they don’t directly kill multitudes of people.
To this end, Tshwane’s leadership in detection and readiness sets an example, not just for South Africa, but for the region as a whole.
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