Botha May Release Mandela If Sakharov, Shcharansky Go Free : Also Promises Major Reforms of Apartheid

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa â€”  President Pieter W. Botha today outlined plans to reform some aspects of apartheid and said he might release jailed black nationalist leader Nelson Mandela if Soviet dissidents Andrei D. Sakharov and Anatoly Shcharansky were also freed.

He stopped well short, however, of announcing full equality for the nation’s black majority and said schools and living areas will remain segregated. He said emergency rule will be maintained.

Botha’s remarks, in a keynote speech to the opening session of Parliament in Cape Town, crushed speculation that he would lift the state of emergency invoked six months ago in response to black unrest that has killed more than 1,100 people in the past 17 months.

Botha opened the door for a deal that could lead to the release of Mandela, the president of the exiled African National Congress who is in the 23rd year of a life sentence for sabotage.

‘Much Thought’

“I am conscious of the fact that Mr. Mandela has been in prison for a long time and that he is now in his sixties. I have given this matter much thought,� Botha said.

But, he said, if it was possible to release Mandela on humanitarian grounds, it should be possible for the Soviet Union to free Sakharov and Shcharansky on the same grounds.

Botha noted that previous offers to free Mandela have included the condition that he renounce violence but did not specify whether that was still a government demand.

In Harare, Zimbabwe, ANC Secretary-General Alfred Nzo immediately dismissed Botha’s offer and restated the insurgents’ demand that Mandela be freed unconditionally.

Sakharov, 64, one of the developers of the Soviet hydrogen bomb, is confined to the closed Soviet city of Gorky after taking public stands on human rights issues. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975. Shcharansky, 37, was sentenced in 1978 to 13 years in prison and labor camp on charges of spying for the United States. The Jewish computer programmer has said his only crime was seeking to emigrate to Israel.

Botha also told Parliament that he will establish a National Statutory Council to give advice on legislation to gradually reform apartheid--the country’s system of legislated racial discrimination--and that blacks will be included in the council.

No Immediate Changes

Botha announced no immediate changes in apartheid but said legislation will be drafted this year to restore South African citizenship to blacks in four tribal homelands regarded by Pretoria as independent.

He promised that the hated “pass� documents all blacks are obliged to carry will be replaced by a common identity document for all races. About 500 blacks are arrested every day for so-called “pass law� offenses, and more than 2 million have been prosecuted under the law in the past decade.

He also said the government will move to implement its promise to give blacks the right to own homes in ghetto areas inside the 87% of South Africa zoned for white residence.