The meeting was aimed at clearing the path to a formal meeting between an ANC delegation and President FW de Klerk. ANC foreign relations chief Thabo Mbeki left Lusaka for London last week with fellow national executive committee member Aziz Pahad, and returned this week. It is believed the two took part in the talks.
NEC members dismissed reports of the meeting as ”pure speculation”, but it is understood that a report on the discussions was to be tabled at the NEC’s two-day meeting which began in Lusaka yesterday. Any such discussions would have been likely to focus on the remaining impediments facing ANC exiles waiting to return to South Africa. De Klerk recently said the ”legal uncertainties” were receiving urgent attention. The ANC, most of whose leaders would face prosecution under laws still on the statute books if they went back, will want guarantees for their safe return.
Since arriving in Lusaka on Tuesday in time for the NEC’s two-day meeting, Nelson Mandela has had a hectic schedule. He had no sooner been greeted by a 30 000-strong, cheering, ululating crowd at the airport than he was in a meeting with all six Frontline heads of state as well as representatives of the Commonwealth, Nigeria, Uganda, Canada, the Palestine Liberation Organisation and other high-level delegations, including one from the Soviet Union and 11 US congressmen. He also has to attend a string of civic events, such as receiving the freedom of Lusaka and laying a wreath at Lusaka’s freedom statue, dedicated to fallen freedom fighters. He leaves Lusaka on Sunday for a three-day visit to Harare after which he travels to Dar es Salaam and then to Stockholm to be reunited with Oliver Tambo.
The ANC is expected to re-emerge as a legal, political force in South Africa within the next fortnight, with its headquarters in Johannesburg. ANC spokesman Steve Tshwete said: ”We would like to see offices spread all over South Africa in two week’ time.” It is understood the ANC would like to establish itself as a formal, visible presence by the time its delegation arrives to meet De Klerk. This would point to a meeting between Mandela and the state president shortly after ANC leader’s return to South Africa on March 17. Tshwete said ANC members within the country would be responsible for opening offices under the direction of Walter Sisulu as chairman of an interim leadership corps. Members of the ANC’s executive will return to the country to help with the task, but no decision has yet been taken on who these will be.
Tshwete said membership of the organisation would be open to individ¬uals who subscribed to the Freedom Charter. Membership of other organi¬sations would be allowed – meaning that democratic structures such as the United Democratic Front will not have to disband. However, the situation will be continuously reviewed and a stage might be reached where the need for a UDF fell away, he said.
- The ANC Youth Section has accepted an invitation from the South African Youth Congress (Sayco) to attend its national congress in Johannesburg over the Easter weekend. It is also considering a request from Jeugkrag SA to attend a conference at the Rand Afrikaans University in April.
This article originally appeared in the Weekly Mail.
