Unlock Apartheid's Jails campaign mailing says that, in August 1989, the African National Congress drafted its now famous Harare Declaration of conditions for negotiations, which included the release of all political prisoners and the cessation of all political trials. On February 2, 1990, F.W. de Klerk announced that among other things, an agreement on the release of all political prisoners had been reached and declared that there were only between 300-600 political prisoners in spite of evidence that the actual figure was closer to 3,000. The mailing says that, at the Groote Schuur talks with the ANC in May, the government set up a joint commission to coordinate the release of the prisoners....
Unlock Apartheid's Jails campaign mailing says that, in August 1989, the African National Congress drafted its now famous Harare Declaration of conditions for negotiations, which included the release of all political prisoners and the cessation of all political trials. On February 2, 1990, F.W. de Klerk announced that among other things, an agreement on the release of all political prisoners had been reached and declared that there were only between 300-600 political prisoners in spite of evidence that the actual figure was closer to 3,000. The mailing says that, at the Groote Schuur talks with the ANC in May, the government set up a joint commission to coordinate the release of the prisoners. In August it signed the Pretoria Minute which finalized guidelines on the release of these prisoners. Then, as protests at the abysmally slow rate of releases began to grow, the government announced that the timing would be dependent on how well, in their eyes, the ANC upheld its suspension of armed struggle. As of the end of February, fewer than 250 people have been released, leaving behind 2,750. Two weeks ago the government announced that it had reached yet a new agreement on the release of these prisoners, and even went on to say that it had nearly 750 release forms "almost ready." The mailing says at the ANC Consultative Conference in December the organization expressed its displeasure at the government's use of these prisoners as pawns to win more concessions at the negotiating table.
