Botha Says He Would Free Black Leader

President Pieter W. Botha told Parliament today that his government is willing to consider releasing South Africa’s best-known black rights leader, Nelson Mandela, if he renounces violence.

Botha said the government would require only that Mandela--serving a sentence of life in prison for sabotage--divorce himself from the violence carried out by the black nationalist organization he heads, the African National Congress.

Botha’s remarks are the furthest any South African government official has gone in suggesting that Mandela, 66, might be freed.

Mandela was sentenced to life in prison in 1964 and has since become a martyr for the 22 million blacks in white-ruled South Africa.

‘Long Time in Prison’

“My government is not insensitive to the fact that Mr. Mandela and others have spent a very long time in prison, even though they were duly convicted in open court,” Botha said.

“The choice is his. All that is requested from him now is that he should unconditionally reject violence as a political instrument, a norm which is respected in all civilized countries of the world,” Botha said. “It is not the South African government which now stands in the way of Mr. Mandela’s freedom.”

Botha said the government will extend the same offer to other imprisoned members of the guerrilla organization.

Mandela never denied planning sabotage to overthrow white-minority rule, and after his conviction the former gold mine policeman, boxer and Johannesburg lawyer said his organization was forced to turn to violence because whites had ignored generations of peaceful black protesters.

Mandela has generally not been allowed to meet with foreign visitors to South Africa. Most recently, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) was refused permission to see Mandela during a visit.

However, Lord Bethell, a British writer and a Conservative member of the European Parliament, was allowed to interview Mandela. The interview was published Sunday in London’s Daily Mail.

Mandela was quoted as saying the African National Congress would lay down its arms if South Africa agreed to negotiate with the organization.

“The armed struggle was forced on us by the government, and if they want us to give it up, the ball is in their court. They must legalize us, treat us like a political party and negotiate with us. Until they do, we will have to live with the armed struggle,” he said.

“It is useless simply to carry on talking. The government has tightened the screws too far. Of course, if there were to be talks along these lines, we in the ANC would declare a truce,” Mandela said.