The Fencer Who Bombed South Africa's Nuclear Crown Jewel and Vanished for 40 Years

Key facts

• Rodney Wilkinson, 76, was South Africa's national champion in foil and sabre at age 21.
• In December 1982, he walked four bombs into the Koeberg nuclear power station, 19 miles north of Cape Town.
• He pulled the pins on 17 December 1982, weeks before the plant was due to come online.
• Wilkinson had been conscripted at 18, absconded, and was sent to fight in Angola in 1976 in unmarked vehicles.
• He now lives in Knysna, a coastal town six hours from Cape Town, in a house owned by Matilda Knill.
• Most neighbours, including Colleen Harding's guest house, had never heard of him despite his being the most wanted saboteur in South African history.
• The broken tip of his foil killed his fencing coach, Vincent Bonfil, in a 1971 accident.

The Lede: A Bomb in the Control Room

In December 1982, a 21-year-old national fencing champion named Rodney Wilkinson walked four bombs into the Koeberg nuclear power station, South Africa's only nuclear plant, pulled the pins, and cycled away. He had a farewell drink with colleagues, then vanished for more than four decades. The plant, the crown jewel of the apartheid state, was weeks from coming online. The bombs did not detonate fully, but the sabotage crippled the control room and delayed the plant's opening by months. Wilkinson's act was one of the most audacious attacks on state infrastructure in South African history.

The Saboteur: From Fencing Champion to Fugitive

Wilkinson was South Africa's best fencer, national champion in foil and sabre and second in epee. He had toured Europe and Argentina but never stood on an Olympic podium because South Africa was banned from the Games due to apartheid. In August 1971, during a training session at the University of the Witwatersrand, his foil snapped. The broken tip pierced the chest of his coach, Vincent Bonfil, a 25-year-old Englishman who had been a reserve for Britain at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. Bonfil died on the way to hospital. A Johannesburg magistrate ruled it accidental; Bonfil's mother told Wilkinson she now thought of him as a son.

The War That Radicalised Him

Like all white South African men of his generation, Wilkinson was conscripted at 18. He absconded, but the South African Defence Force dragged him back. In 1976, he was sent north into Angola in unmarked vehicles, fighting a war the regime denied it was fighting. Soldiers were dying, and their deaths were reported as car accidents. Wilkinson became furious with the regime that had conscripted him, sent him to a war he didn't believe in, and made his country a pariah. Eleven years after the fencing accident, he was working as a contract engineer at Koeberg, the very plant he would bomb.

The Bombing: 17 December 1982

On 17 December 1982, Wilkinson walked four bombs into the Koeberg power station, pulled the pins in the control room, and left. He had a farewell drink with colleagues and then disappeared. The bombs caused significant damage but did not fully detonate, averting a potential nuclear catastrophe. Wilkinson remained at large for decades. He lived in Knysna, a small coastal town six hours from Cape Town, in a house belonging to Matilda Knill, 49, a force of nature he met at a pub. When her mother died, Wilkinson showed up uninvited with soup and tranquillisers, cooking for the family. For most of those years, Matilda had no idea who he was.

The Man Who Stayed Hidden in Plain Sight

Colleen Harding, who runs the Hide-Away guest house in Knysna, claims to know everyone in the area. Yet she had never heard of Wilkinson, despite his being the most wanted saboteur in South African history. Her next-door neighbour worked at Koeberg for his entire career and knew someone on shift the night of the bombing, but the name Rodney Wilkinson meant nothing. Wilkinson achieved anonymity not by being unremarkable but by keeping a low profile for over 40 years. Most people, including Harding, could not connect the quiet man in Knysna to the man who bombed the nuclear plant.

The Revelation and Aftermath

Wilkinson's secret unravelled when a film producer contacted him. He handed his phone to Matilda Knill and said: 'Google Koeberg.' Her face changed as she read the history. She moved him into her home permanently. Now 76, Wilkinson lives quietly in Knysna. The question of why he bombed the plant remains: an act of folly or courage? He told the author that the 1971 accident affected him 'badly' and then stopped talking. The apartheid state that took his Olympic dream and sent him to war had created its own saboteur.

The Stakes: A Nuclear Plant and a Nation's Reckoning

Koeberg remains South Africa's only nuclear power station, a symbol of both technological ambition and the apartheid regime's isolation. Wilkinson's bombing delayed its opening but did not stop it. Today, the plant supplies about 5% of South Africa's electricity. Wilkinson's story forces a reckoning with the personal costs of apartheid: a gifted athlete turned fugitive, a coach's accidental death, a war fought in denial. The man who bombed the crown jewel of the apartheid state now lives 20 minutes from a guest house whose owner never heard of him. In Knysna, the past is still hiding in plain sight.

The bottom line

• Rodney Wilkinson, a national fencing champion, bombed the Koeberg nuclear power station in December 1982 as an anti-apartheid act.
• He was radicalised by conscription and service in Angola, a war the apartheid regime denied.
• The bombs did not fully detonate, but the sabotage delayed the plant's opening by months.
• Wilkinson evaded capture for over 40 years, living in Knysna, South Africa, with the help of a friend who initially did not know his past.
• His story highlights the personal and political costs of apartheid, including the accidental death of his fencing coach in 1971.
• Koeberg remains South Africa's only nuclear power station, a legacy of the apartheid era.