The month Mandela left prison , South Africa 's president ordered its atomic arsenal dismantled . Desmond Tutu says nuclear weapons -- like apartheid -- were a blight on S. Africa 's image . As president , Mandela implored the remaining nuclear powers to also give up their weapons . He was assassinated in 1994 by his own people for speaking out against them.
The month Mandela left prison , South Africa 's president ordered its atomic arsenal dismantled . Desmond Tutu says nuclear weapons -- like apartheid -- were a blight on S. Africa 's image . As president , Mandela implored the remaining nuclear powers to also give up their weapons . Tutu says nuclear weapons and those who hold them should be stigmatized .