President F. W. de Klerk discussed South Africa's future with Nelson R. Mandela today, raising the expectation that the imprisoned anti-apartheid leader may be released early next year. Mr. de Klerk received Mr. Mandela, South Africa's most prominent political prisoner, at Tuynhuys, the President's office in Cape Town. Mr. Mandela, who has been in jail since 1963, is being held at a prison farm near Paarl, outside Cape Town.
Justice Minister Hendrick J. Coetsee, who attended the meeting, said that it was requested by Mr. Mandela and welcomed by Mr. de Klerk, who says he wants to create a climate for negotiations that would give the country's disenfranchised black majority a limited degree of political power. Taking Measure of Each Other In a cautiously worded statement, Mr. Coetsee said the meeting with Mr. Mandela ''fitted in with Mr. de Klerk's program to consult with the full spectrum of political opinion concerning the mutual future of all South Africans.'' The discussions between Mr. de Klerk and Mr. Mandela, he said, included ''ways and means to address current obstacles in the way of meaningful dialogue.'' Mr. Coetsee declined to give more details, saying further statements ''would serve no positive purpose.'' But Mr. Mandela's release has been a consistent precondition of black leaders across the political spectrum for talks with the white minority Government.
The state-run South African Broadcasting Corporation, in reporting news of the meeting on the television evening news, showed an old photograph of Mr. Mandela, indicating a departure from the official position that his photograph not be shown or published because South African law treats him as a banned person. Today's meeting created the opportunity for the most prominent white and black South Africans to take personal measure of each other. Mr. Coetsee did not say how long the meeting lasted. The Justice Minister said follow-up talks between Mr. de Klerk and Mr. Mandela were envisioned in the new year, a statement that indicated Mr. Mandela would not be freed this month. Criticism From the Right
During a visit to the Ivory Coast on Dec. 2, President de Klerk told reporters that the question was not whether Mr. Mandela would be released but when and under what circumstances. Today's meeting was criticized by Andries Treurnicht, the leader of the right-wing Conservative Party, who said that it amounted to an unbanning of the outlawed African National Congress, to which Mr. Mandela has belonged for 45 years. But the liberal Democratic Party welcomed the meeting. In a statement, its co-leader, Denis Worrall, said Mr. Mandela's request to see President de Klerk ''suggests Mr. Mandela understands what an important role he has to play and how deeply his initial approach will influence in particular white South African attitudes.''
There have been reports that Mr. Mandela was remaining in prison by his own choice in order to get more jailed comrades released and to work out details for negotiations with the Government. But Dullah Omar, a Cape Town attorney, discounted such suggestions after lunching yesterday with Walter and Albertina Sisulu. Mr. Sisulu, a comrade of Mr. Mandela in both the outlawed African National Congress and in prison, visited Mr. Mandela for three hours yesterday.
Mr. de Klerk freed Mr. Sisulu and seven other long-term political prisoners, six of whom belonged to the Congress, on Oct. 15 in a gesture seen as a rehearsal for Mr. Mandela's release. Mr. Omar said Mr. Sisulu told him that of the issues he and Mr. Mandela discussed, ''the most relevant one was Mr. Mandela's continued imprisonment. Mr. Mandela emphatically denies that he has chosen not to be released now.'' ''He says he does not know why he has not been released with the others,'' Mr. Omar continued, according to a report by the South African Press Association. ''He has the right to be released but is not prepared to beg for his release.''
New York Times
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