Talks between the ANC and the South African government aimed at removing the obstacles to negotiations, resulted on 4 May in a joint agreement to 'a peaceful process of negotiations'. At the same time, open political activity continued to be repressed by armed force, and restrictive legislation remained in place.
Several exiled ANC leaders returned to South Africa during April and May in terms of a temporary amnesty extended to those involved in the talks. Secretary-General Alfred Nzo and other leaders addressed mass rallies before and after the talks with the government, held in Cape Town on 2-4 May.
The talks resulted in an agreement known as the Groote Schuur Minute, in which the government and the ANC agreed on 'a common commitment towards the resolution of the existing climate of violence and intimidation from whatever quarter'. The government undertook to 'review security legislation' and 'to work towards the lifting of the State of Emergency', and a joint working group was established to make recommendations on the release of political prisoners and on immunity from prosecution for 'political offences' for exiles and people inside South Africa.
The ANC made it clear that although the agreement was the first formal step towards negotiations with the government, the conditions for negotiations had not yet been met and the ANC would not immediately abandon any of its political strategies. The movement called for international sanctions against South Africa to be retained.
The talks were confined to the issue of obstacles to negotiations and did not deal with constitutional matters or with the form which negotiations would take. After the talks the Minister of Constitutional Development, Gerrit Viljoen, set out a 12-point government proposal for a new constitution. He declared that while the government accepted the principle of majority rule, 'minorities' would have to be protected, 'own' schools should be run with state funding and the 'free market system' should continue.
Since its unbanning in February, the ANC has held a series of mass meetings around the country, addressed by both internal and external leaders. Recruiting drives began in early May, with the aim of organising a mass membership into branches throughout the country. The ANC also began consultations with church bodies to prepare for the return of up to 50,000 exiles.
While some leaders of the United Democratic Front (UDF) took up ANC posts, the UDF, which unites hundreds of anti-apartheid groups, resolved to continue to co-ordinate its affiliates, under the leadership of the ANC. The South African Youth Congress (SAYCO), which unites local youth organisations in a federal structure, resolved to amalgamate with the ANC's youth section in order to re-establish an ANC Youth League by April next year. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), into which the South African Congress of Trade Unions (SACTU) had decided to merge itself, formally allied itself with the ANC and the South African Communist Party (SACP).
Resistance by local communities to apartheid structures spread during the first quarter of the year. Police, and in an increasing number of cases, soldiers, resorted to violence and detentions to suppress democratic activity and popular protests. Labour strikes during the first quarter increased three-fold over the same period last year, and there were rent, consumer and educational boycotts and protest stayaways in many parts of the country.
In a few areas, negotiations between police and other authorities and community representatives resolved conflicts, but in many more areas violent police action led to further protests. Resistance was particularly intense in the Orange Free State and the Western Transvaal during April.
Popular protests and boycott actions took place in several areas. They were directed against white right-wing vigilante activity in Welkom where armed groups controlled by the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB) attacked residents and tried to enforce a curfew.
In Natal, a concerted attack on UDF-ANC supporters by Inkatha supporters which began during March further inflamed conflict in the region and military and police reinforcements were sent in. Sustained resistance in other bantustans continued to put pressure on bantustan leaders to align themselves with the ANC, resulting in violent police and military repression in some areas. However, in early May all the leaders of the non-'independent' bantustans except Kwazulu met with the ANC and declared their support for the movement's stance on negotiations.
