The meeting in Pretoria on 6 August accepted the report of the joint working group which had been set up by the Groote Schuur Minute in order to make proposals on the definition of a political offence.
In the three months before the talks the government released few political prisoners and granted temporary indemnity to only a handful of exiles who had specific roles to play on behalf of the ANC. Under the terms of the indemnity Act introduced on 17 May some 40 leading ANC members were granted temporary immunity from civil and criminal proceedings and detention without trial for the period May to 19 August. The protection did not cover them for any current actions but only for past ones. Relying on this, the regime justified the detention of NEC member 'Mac' Maharaj on 25 July by saying that he was involved in illegal activities after returning to South Africa under the indemnity.
The Groote Schuur Minute also committed the government to allowing the return of exiles who had merely left without a valid travel document or had committed offences arising purely from the banning of certain organisations. It was reported in June that the government had given the ANC bulk passport application forms for such people. Even so, some exiles seeking to return were turned back or detained at the borders. In July a senior ANC spokesman said that the return of the exiles was proceeding in a 'very slow and unsatisfactory manner'.
The working party formulated guidelines to be used in considering the granting of pardon or indemnity for political offences. Described as not 'exhaustive' they relied heavily on principles and factors used in the Namibian process. It suggested that the process would be a phased one with 'diverse periods for pardon, indemnity and release' applying to 'diverse persons, categories of persons and categories of offences'. It recommended the establishment of an advisory body to assist the executive in taking decisions about pardon and indemnity. Prisoners who could be released 'administratively' in terms of current policy, including members of Umkhonto we Sizwe, would be released from 1 September onwards. The entire process should be completed by 30 April 1991.
In the period between the talks the regime sought to deflect attention away from its own failure to control its armed forces which was inhibiting the creation of a climate for negotiations. It demanded that the ANC abandon the armed struggle. Mandela reiterated the ANC's position that 'as soon as the government removes obstacles to negotiations we are prepared to consider the suspension of hostilities, not ending the armed struggle'. The ANC announced at the Pretoria meeting that 'in the interest of moving as speedily as possible towards a negotiated peaceful political settlement and in the context of the agreements reached' it was suspending armed actions. The Harare Declaration envisages that a final cessation of hostilities would follow the introduction of a new democratic constitution, a position which Mandela reiterated at the beginning of August.
