South Africa

Antiapartheid sympathizers won partial victories in two celebrated South African causes last week. State President P.W. Botha commuted the death sentences of the Sharpeville Six, five black men and one black woman sentenced under the so-called common-purpose law for joining a mob that murdered a black official in 1984. International leaders had long pleaded with Botha to pardon the six. He finally did, but they must still serve jail terms of from 18 to 25 years.

Next day the government announced that Nelson Mandela, 70, will not return to jail when he finishes hospital treatment for tuberculosis. But the spiritual head of the banned African National Congress will not be set free, either. He will be transferred to what the government described as "suitable, comfortable and secure" living accommodations -- possibly a house on prison grounds. By freeing Mandela in stages, Botha apparently hopes to avoid having the ailing black leader die in jail and thus become a martyr.