Chapter 1H – CCTSA

Glimmers of Hope

INFORMAL TALKS WITH THE ANC

By 1985, both Nelson Mandela and the PW Botha government had reached the conclusion that there would not be a revolutionary or military solution to the problems of the country:
THERE WOULD HAVE TO BE NEGOTIATIONS.

“It was clear to me that a military victory was a dim and impossible dream. It simply did not make sense for both sides to lose thousands if not millions of lives in a conflict that was unnecessary. They must have known this as well. It was time to talk.”

Nelson Mandela Long Walk to Freedom p. 513

Nelson Mandela opened a line of communication to the PW Botha government. In the subsequent three years, he had more than 100 meetings with government leaders, primarily with Justice Minister Kobie Coetsee and Niël Barnard – head of the National Intelligence Service, culminating in a meeting with President PW Botha in July 1989.

Nelson Mandela meeting PW Botha

There were numerous and extensive talks between the ANC, South African business, political leaders, and Afrikaner academics.

In September 1985, a group of academics and businessmen, led by Anglo American chairman Gavin Relly, met with an ANC delegation in Lusaka.
Later in 1985, the ANC met informally with members of the opposition Progressive Federal Party in Lusaka.
Between 1987 and 1990, 12 meetings were held at Mells House in the United Kingdom between Afrikaner academics, led by Prof Willie Esterhuyse, and the ANC – with the approval of the National Intelligence Service.
In September 1987, a large group of Afrikaner academics, business people, and journalists, led by Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, met with an ANC delegation led by Thabo Mbeki in Dakar.

The Harare declaration which was adopted by the OAU on 21 August 1989 called for:

the ending of apartheid;
negotiations based on democratic principles and assurances of human rights; and
the creation of a climate conducive to negotiations.