THEPOLITICALTRANSITION
The members of the ANC executive in exile were not fully informed
about Mandela's dealings with government officials, but they, too, had
been having a series of secret meetings with prominent Afrikaners. At a
private house in England they discussed the future of South Africa and de-
veloped considerable social rapport across the color line.12 Yet they were
deeply divided about the desirability of having formal discussions with the
government. In August 1989, meeting in Zimbabwe, they issued a cau-
tious document known as the Harare Declaration. It might be possible to
"end apartheid through negotiations," they said, if the Pretoria regime
was prepared to negotiate "genuinely and seriously." But first the govern-
ment would have to do five things: liftthe state of emergency and remove
the troops from the townships, end the restrictions on political activity, le-
galize all political organizations, release all political prisoners, and stop all
political executions. There was no suggestion of concessions to the white
population. 13
Botha could not bring himself to negotiate with Africans, however, and
in July 1989, when he eventually invited Mandela to the presidential resi-
dence in Cape Town, he did no more than indulge in small talk. But