Pelindaba: South Africa's very own Area 51-ish secret government base?

- Area 51 needs no introduction - it is the basis for countless conspiracy theories

- When thinking about Mzansi, where is our 'Area 51'?

- It is widely believed that every government has one (or more) secret base that no one knows about, and Pelindaba could be South Africa's version of it

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Area 51 - the "top-secret government base" that fuels so many conspiracy theories that it would take forever to share them all.

It's one of the most famous locations in the world and it makes sense that every country would have such a place, right?

If South Africa really has one, we're much better at keeping it secret than the Americans are.

However, there is one place that comes to mind: Pelindaba. After all, the facility’s name literally translates to “end of discussion” - suspicious!

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From a report by The South African, Briefly.co.za learnt that Pelindaba Nuclear Research Centre, located west of Pretoria, was established as the home of South Africa’s nuclear technology programme in the late 1950s.

It was rumoured that the National Party were seeking to develop their own atomic weapons in the 1960s.

South Africa became the first country to willingly de-nuclearise itself in 1991 as apartheid crumbled. All programmes related to nuclear defence at Pelindaba were shut down.

Apparently, the facility now plays host to the South African Nuclear Energy Commission (Necsa).

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Just like Area 51, Pelindaba is closed to the public. Rumours of shady government business have been swirling around the facility for years and security is tight.

Whether there really is something top-secret going on at the place is up for debate. It's not like they'd tell us if there was anything going on anyway.

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Source: Briefly News