ANC President OR Tambo Denies Secret Talks with Apartheid Government

ANC President OR Tambo Denies Secret Talks with Apartheid Government

On 27 September 1987, the African National Congress (ANC) President, Oliver Tambo, denied that the ANC was in secret negotiations with the apartheid South African government. His denial came two months after a former Member of Parliament and leader of the Progressive Federal Party (PFP), Frederik van Zyl Slabbert, expressed his satisfaction with the outcome of discussions held with the banned ANC in exile.

Responding to journalists in a Press Conference held in Addis Ababa, July 1987, Tambo said the meeting in Dakar was “a continuation of a process of contacts which we seek to make, as the ANC, with the white community in our country which is denied knowledge about our struggle, about the ANC itself, and its objectives for the country, as well as the reasons for the methods of struggle we use. The regime seeks to keep this information away from the white community. But we see it as in the interests of all the people of South Africa that they hear what the ANC has, as an alternative to the apartheid system, and that it is firmly supported by the majority of South Africans. And those whites we have met previous to the Dakar meeting have discovered something they did not know about the objectives of the ANC. So, this was a continuation of that process.”

President Tambo was asked further why the ANC had met these white Afrikaners when they, as Afrikaners had had an opportunity to change the situation in South Africa during the 6 May 1987 general elections. Tambo responded in the affirmative, saying “Yes, that is all the more reason why we should meet them. Those we met have learnt a great deal and perhaps they would have handled the situation differently if we had met them earlier. But it is our duty to constantly guide the people of South Africa as a whole as to the way out of the apartheid system. In particular, it is whites who are being misled about the ANC.”

When asked whether a man like Van Zyl Slabbert, a man not long ago who walked out of his own party, the Progressive Federal Party, was he really an alternative to the apartheid system. In his response Tambo said, “Precisely, we trust him precisely because he did that. He left the South African Parliament because he came to the conclusion that no change can come through that institution, that apartheid racist parliament. By getting out of parliament, and of course not to embarrass his own party, to get out of the party and join extraparliamentary forces of change, that is the only sort of change, a very correct move and we have called on the rest of the members of the Federal Party to leave that body and join us to work for real change.”

On 6 July 1987, Frederik van Zyl Slabbert led a group of fifty-two mainly Afrikaans-speaking intellectuals, drawn from academic, professional, cultural, religious and business fields, to meet with the then-banned ANC in Dakar, Senegal. The three-day Conference was organised by the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa (Idasa) in Dakar, under strong opposition by the apartheid government. In an effort to reduce state interference, the non-ANC participants stated they were attending in their individual capacities. As a consequence, the Dakar Conference (also referred to as the “Dakar Dialogue” or the “Dakar Initiative”) became a historic conference between members of Idasa and the ANC, as it lay grounds for the possibilities of a future of South Africa to be addressed through negotiations.

Amongst the delegates from South Africa were Van Zyl Slabbert, Tony Bloom, Willie Esterhuyse, Dr. Theuns Eloff, Breyten Breytenbach, Andre Brink, Ampie Coetsee, Andre du Toit, Jannie Gagiano, Herman Gilliomee, Max du Preez, Rashid Lombard, Jimmy Matthews, Hennie Serfontein, Alistair Sparks, Alex Boraine and Gretha Fox. Notable about these delegates was that the majority were Afrikaans-speaking, and the ground-breaking meeting was regarded as a milestone in South African political history. It received positive attention internationally, but the apartheid government saw it as a betrayal not only of the apartheid state, but also of “Afrikanerdom”.

The purpose of the meeting, while exploratory, was to confer on mutual strategies for fundamental political, social and economic changes in South Africa. Participants agreed to campaign for a negotiated resolution of the liberation struggle. It was further agreed that, given the increasing and endemic politically-motivated violence in the country, this process needed to happen swiftly. The conference also discussed topics such as strategies for bringing fundamental change in South Africa, national unity, structures of the government and the future of the economy in a free South Africa.

Senegalese President Abdou Diouf opened the conference, and it was attended by members of his cabinet and members of the diplomatic community. The Conference was also addressed by Danielle Mitterrand, the wife of French President François Mitterrand, and president of the “Fondation Danielle-Mitterrand – France Libertés”. Four major topics had been agreed upon and the delegates had submitted the papers prior to conference. The four major topics included: strategies for bringing fundamental change in South Africa, national unity, structures of the government and the future of the economy in a free South Africa. Informal topics were also discussed and included the armed struggle, violence, negotiations, political pluralism, a Bill of Rights, future of Afrikaans and its culture, a future economy, distributive justice and other topics.

In their presentation the delegates expressed their concern about violence in South Africa and its impact on civilians while the ANC members outlined why they had begun an armed struggle when all other peaceful strategies to bring about racial policy change in South Africa had failed. The ANC further reiterated that attacks on soft targets were not part of its policy and that control over its armed cadres in the country was not always possible. It was clear to the delegates during the discussions that the ANC was prepared to negotiate with the government but that certain preconditions would have to be met which included the release of political prisoners and the unbanning of banned organisation’s in the country.

Regards pluralism, the ANC expressed a commitment of political pluralism in a new South African political system and that racism and fascism would be outlawed in the political system. It further expressed a belief that the groups committed to the ending of apartheid would in a new South Africa political system would split into its own organisations expressing their own ideas and beliefs. During the discussions concerning a Bill of Rights, the ANC said it did not have a problem with it but would not guarantee privileges in such a bill. It expressed a reassurance that the Afrikaans language would be safeguarded as well as its cultural identity and that all people’s cultural heritages should be protected.

Regarding the future of South Africa’s economy, the ANC maintained that its policies were grounded on the Freedom Charter and that some form of nationalisation would be required to redress the economic and wealth imbalances that occurred as a result of colonialism and apartheid. For the ANC, nationalisation would not occur instantly, and consultation would have to take place between the business sector and the future government. Health, housing and education were key areas that the ANC would be readdressing as matters that required immediate attention.

The Idasa delegation participated in the conference in their private capacity and would later be condemned by the apartheid government for meeting a banned organisation. Van Zyl Slabbert had resigned from the Progressive Federal Party (PFP) and Parliament in January 1986, describing it as irrelevant and that he would explore other avenues of negotiations between white and black South Africans. He was joined by Alex Boraine and both established Idasa, as a non-partisan organisation that aimed to promote inclusive democracy in South Africa by talking to people of all races within and outside the country.

These meetings began in Lusaka, on 11 August 1985, when a PFP delegation led by F. van Zyl Slabbert, including Colin Eglin, Alex Boraine and Peter Gastrow, who were PFP Members of Parliament, met with the ANC delegation led by Alfred Nzo, which included Thabo Mbeki, Mac Maharaj, Thomas Nkobi and Gertrude Shope. Slabbert, in communication with Thabo Mbeki, a member of the ANC’s National Executive, discussed the change in attitude amongst some of the Afrikaner elite towards Afrikaner Nationalism and apartheid. According to Slabbert, the intention was “to begin the process of demystifying an organisation – the ANC – which by the nature of its considerable support … was destined to play a major role in negotiations towards a non-racial, democratic South Africa.”

Out of these discussions and meetings, which occurred between 1985 and 1987, an idea was generated for a possible conference between them and the ANC. This was a huge step from the opposition White liberals attempting to force political change from within the parliamentary system, especially with the Afrikaner elite taking direct action in shaping the future direction of South Africa. The ruling National Party condemned the talks, worried about the legitimacy the conference gave to the ANC. The cracks were widening and irreversible within the White Afrikaner ruling class.

The ANC regarded the Dakar meeting to be important because it revealed the White’s ignorance, brainwashing, sense of guilt and fear for the future. The Whites were afraid of the coming revolution; they were afraid of the Blacks, whom they didn’t know. They were vulnerable to right-wing pressure and insulated by apartheid from progressive pressures.

At the conclusion of the Dakar conference, a declaration was released by the participants stating that a negotiated settlement in South Africa was preferred and that the main obstacle was the apartheid government’s unwillingness to negotiate, and the delegates concern about the level of uncontrolled violence in the country. The now well-documented Dakar Declaration of 12 June 1987 reflected the spirit of the conference, despite the differences between those around the table. The Declaration emphasised the nature of the engagement as one of “cordiality and unity of purpose”.

After Dakar, similar meetings between ANC leaders and white South Africans were organised by Idasa in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Germany, France and the US. These meetings didn’t trigger the same extreme reactions from the apartheid government. South Africans were slowly getting used to the idea because Dakar had set an unprecedented example. At this time, Botha’s government followed a basic two-track policy. The Department of Constitutional Development was attempting to find a way of negotiating with black leaders who were outside the ANC. However, as this approach failed, the apartheid government pursued an approach to negotiate with moderate leaders within the ANC in an attempt to split the Movement. They claimed to be not prepared to talk to “communists”.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) seemed not to be perturbed by these intentions, as they regarded the Dakar Dialogue as a huge success. According to their analysis, “It has been asked in some quarters what the ANC gains by taking part in such discussions and whether the energies of ANC participants would not be betters spent in prosecuting the armed struggle. The answer is that the ANC fights on many fronts and this is one of them. No achievement of the liberation movement has been more important than the splitting of Afrikanerdom, hitherto the mainstay of white domination in South Africa. It is likely that almost all the participants from South Africa were responsive to the leadership of the National Party at some stage in the past. Now all have openly rejected it; more have indicated that they share many of the main planks in the ANC platform.”

For the SACP, “There is no way in which the Dakar talks can be likened to Lancaster House. The Idasa delegation came as individuals, with a mandate from nobody. They have different points of view. There was nothing to negotiate. All the participants at the conference talked together about the future of South Africa and discovered a large area of agreement. The isolation of the racist apartheid regime was carried a stage further. The ANC has succeeded brilliantly in winning friends and influencing people. Isn’t that what diplomacy is all about?”

In the January 8 Statement of the ANC the following year, President Tambo stated that “the forces of White minority domination are more divided than they have ever been in all the four decades of apartheid rule. Never again will the racists regain the unity which they so frantically seek. Of importance in this regard is the continuing defection of some Afrikaners from the camp of racism and apartheid. Regardless of the distance these new democrats have travelled towards genuinely democratic positions, the fact of their break with the perspective of White minority domination constitutes an important contribution to the common future we seek to build – of a South Africa that will belong to all South Africans regardless of race or colour. The meeting in Dakar will always remain one of the benchmarks in the efforts of our people to unite against the apartheid system.”

Sources:
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Allister Sparks, “Afrikaners Set Meeting With ANC”, The Washington Post, 4 July 1987.
Kevin Bloom, “The Politics of Influence”, Mail & Guardian, 21 June 2005.
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Marius Oosthuizen, “As the Last ANC Parliament Looms, A New Generation of Political Leaders Must Step Forward”, Daily Maverick, 26 June 2022.
We, The People South Africa, “The Story Behind The ‘Safaris’ to Meet the ANC-in-Exile, 1985 – 1989”, The Constitution Hill Trust, 2017.
Barry Van Wyk, “The Balance of Power and the Transition to Democracy In South Africa”, Magister Hereditatus Culturaeque Scientiae: University of Pretoria, 2005.
Michael Savage, “Trekking Outward: A chronology of meetings between South Africans and the ANC in exile 1983-2000”, University of Cape Town, 16 May 2018.
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Oliver Tambo, “Forward to United Action for People’s Power: Message from the NEC of the ANC, January 8th 1988”, Sechaba, March 1988.

Castro Khwela
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