Editing Thabo Mbeki (section)

=== 1980s: Negotiations ===
{{BLP sources section|date=January 2024}}

In 1985, [[PW Botha]] declared a State of Emergency and gave the army and police special powers. In 1986, the South African Army sent a captain in the South African Defence Force (SADF) to kill Mbeki. The plan was to put a bomb in his house in Lusaka, but the assassin was arrested by the Zambian police before he could go through with the plan.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/24-03-2019/ex-pat-south-africans-need-to-stop-pedalling-the-myth-of-white-genocide |title=NZ's South African community needs to stop peddling the myth of white genocide |author=Ross Webb |date=2019-03-24 |publisher=[[The Spinoff]] }}</ref> Also in 1985, Mbeki became the ANC's director of the Department of Information and Publicity and coordinated diplomatic campaigns to involve more white South Africans in anti-apartheid activities. In 1989, he rose in the ranks to head the ANC's Department of International Affairs and was involved in the ANC's negotiations with the South African government. Mbeki played a major role in turning the international media against apartheid. Raising the diplomatic profile of the ANC, Mbeki acted as a point of contact for foreign governments and international organisations and he was extremely successful in this position. Mbeki also played the role of ambassador to the steady flow of delegates from the elite sectors of white South Africa. These included academics, clerics, business people and representatives of liberal white groups who travelled to Lusaka to assess the ANC's views on a democratic, free South Africa.

Mbeki was seen as pragmatic, eloquent, rational, and urbane. He was known for his diplomatic style and sophistication. In the early 1980s, Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and [[Aziz Pahad]] were appointed by Tambo to conduct private talks with representatives of the [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]] government. Twelve meetings between the parties took place between November 1987 and May 1990, most of them held at [[Mells Park House]], a country house near [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] in Somerset, [[England]].  By September 1989, the team secretly met with Maritz Spaarwater and [[Mike Louw]] in a hotel in [[Switzerland]]. Known as "Operation Flair", [[PW Botha]] was kept informed of all the meetings. At the same time, Mandela and [[Kobie Coetzee]], the Minister of Justice, were also holding secret talks. When Mbeki finally was able to return home to South Africa and was reunited with his own father, the elder Mbeki told a reporter, "You must remember that Thabo Mbeki is no longer my son. He is my comrade!" A news article pointed out that this was an expression of pride, explaining, "For Govan Mbeki, a son was a mere biological appendage; to be called a comrade, on the other hand, was the highest honour."<ref name="govan">{{cite web|last=Gevisser|first=Mark|year=2001|title=ANC was his family, the struggle was his life|url=http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/people/gmbeki/docs/suntimes_020901.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001104212/http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/people/gmbeki/docs/suntimes_020901.htm|archive-date=1 October 2006|access-date=22 November 2006|work=Sunday Times}}</ref>

In the late 1970s, Mbeki made a number of trips to the United States in search of support among US corporations. Literate and funny, he made a wide circle of friends in New York City. Mbeki was appointed head of the ANC's information department in 1984 and then became head of the international department in 1989, reporting directly to [[Oliver Tambo]], then President of the ANC. Tambo was Mbeki's long-time mentor. In 1985, Mbeki was a member of a delegation that began meeting secretly with representatives of the South African business community, and in 1989, he led the ANC delegation that conducted secret talks with the South African government. These talks led to the unbanning of the ANC and the release of political prisoners. He also participated in many of the other important [[Negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa|negotiations]] between the ANC and the government that eventually led to the democratisation of South Africa.<ref name="anc-bio1996">{{cite web|author=Office of the Deputy Executive President|date=13 September 1996|title=Biography of Thabo Mbeki|url=http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/mbeki/bio/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711183712/http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/mbeki/bio/|archive-date=11 July 2007|access-date=21 July 2007|publisher=ANC}}</ref>  As a sign of goodwill, de Klerk set free a few of the ANC's top leadership at the end of 1989, among them [[Govan Mbeki]].