Apartheid

=== Reforms and contact with the ANC under Botha ===
Concerned over the popularity of Mandela, Botha denounced him as an arch-[[Marxism|Marxist]] committed to violent revolution, but to appease Black opinion and nurture Mandela as a benevolent leader of Blacks,<ref name=":0">{{cite book|last=Akansake|first=Albin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CBLPr9RxjCoC&q=Concerned+over+the+popularity+of+Mandela,+Botha+denounced+him+as+an+arch-Marxist+committed+to+violent+revolution&pg=PA35|title=Who Is the First-Class Ghanaian?: A Story of Tribalism, Religion, and Sectionalism in Ghana and the Way Forward|date=18 April 2013|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=978-1-4759-8538-2|language=en|access-date=8 November 2020|archive-date=6 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220206070318/https://books.google.com/books?id=CBLPr9RxjCoC&q=Concerned+over+the+popularity+of+Mandela%2C+Botha+denounced+him+as+an+arch-Marxist+committed+to+violent+revolution&pg=PA35|url-status=live}}</ref> the government transferred him from the maximum security [[Robben Island]] to the lower security [[Pollsmoor Prison]] just outside [[Cape Town]]; where prison life was more comfortable for him. The government allowed Mandela more visitors, including visits and interviews by foreigners, to let the world know that he was being treated well.<ref name=":0" />

Black homelands were declared [[nation-state]]s and [[pass laws]] were abolished. Black labour unions were legitimised, the government recognised the right of Blacks to live in urban areas permanently and gave Blacks [[property rights]] there. Interest was expressed in rescinding the law against interracial marriage and also rescinding the law against sexual relations between different races, which was under ridicule abroad. The spending for Black schools increased, to one-seventh of what was spent per white child, up from on one-sixteenth in 1968. At the same time, attention was given to strengthening the effectiveness of the police apparatus.

In January 1985, Botha addressed the government's House of Assembly and stated that the government was willing to release Mandela on condition that Mandela pledge opposition to acts of violence to further political objectives. Mandela's reply was read in public by his daughter Zinzi{{snds}}his first words distributed publicly since his sentence to prison 21 years earlier. Mandela described violence as the responsibility of the apartheid regime and said that with democracy there would be no need for violence. The crowd listening to the reading of his speech erupted in cheers and chants. This response helped to further elevate Mandela's status in the eyes of those, both internationally and domestically, who opposed apartheid.

Between 1986 and 1988, some petty apartheid laws were repealed, along with the pass laws.<ref name="saHistoryPassLaws">{{cite news|url=https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/pass-laws-south-africa-1800-1994|title=Pass laws in South Africa 1800–1994|last=sahoboss|date=21 March 2011|work=South African History Online|access-date=4 June 2018|language=en|archive-date=14 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180614104339/http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/pass-laws-south-africa-1800-1994|url-status=live}}</ref> Botha told [[White South Africans]] to "adapt or die"<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080408085819/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,916936,00.html South Africa: Adapt or Die]. ''Time''.</ref> and twice he wavered on the eve of what were billed as "[[Point of no return|rubicon]]" announcements of substantial reforms, although on both occasions he backed away from substantial changes. Ironically, these reforms served only to trigger intensified political violence through the remainder of the 1980s as more communities and political groups across the country joined the resistance movement. Botha's government stopped short of substantial reforms, such as lifting the ban on the ANC, PAC and SACP and other liberation organisations, releasing political prisoners, or repealing the foundation laws of grand apartheid. The government's stance was that they would not contemplate negotiating until those organisations "renounced violence".

By 1987, South Africa's economy was growing at one of the lowest rates in the world, and the ban on South African participation in international sporting events was frustrating many whites in South Africa. Examples of African states with Black leaders and White minorities existed in [[Kenya]] and [[Zimbabwe]]. Whispers of South Africa one day having a Black President sent more hardline whites into supporting right-wing political parties. Mandela was moved to a four-bedroom house of his own, with a swimming pool and shaded by fir trees, on a prison farm just outside of Cape Town. He had an unpublicised meeting with Botha. Botha impressed Mandela by walking forward, extending his hand and pouring Mandela's tea. The two had a friendly discussion, with Mandela comparing the African National Congress' rebellion with that of the [[Afrikaner rebellion]] and talking about everyone being brothers.

A number of clandestine meetings were held between the ANC-in-exile and various sectors of the internal struggle, such as women and educationalists. More overtly, a group of White intellectuals met the ANC in [[Senegal]] for talks known as the [[Dakar Conference]].<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Lieberfeld | first1 = Daniel | s2cid = 22512618 | year = 2002 | title = Evaluating the Contributions of Track-two Diplomacy to Conflict Termination in South Africa, 1984–90 | journal = Journal of Peace Research | volume = 39 | issue = 3| pages = 355–372 | doi = 10.1177/0022343302039003006 }}</ref>