Could South Africa have devolved into a Syria scenario if not for Mandela and de Klerk?

[pampango]

If the white minority had decided to hold onto power at any cost to the country, would that have driven the Black resistance into more violent and extremist hands? With a White-controlled military and an increasingly violent opposition (with peaceful means precluded), South Africa could have fallen in to a civil war.

I think you have to give Mandela and de Klerk a lot of credit for working out a path to a peaceful transfer of power from a minority to a majority in spite of the presence of more militant and hard line factions in both of their camps.

I would like to take this opportunity to join the Norwegian Nobel Committee and pay tribute to my joint laureate. Mr. F.W. de Klerk. He had the courage to admit that a terrible wrong had been done to our country and people through the imposition of the system of apartheid. He had the foresight to understand and accept that all the people of South Africa must through negotiations and as equal participants in the process, together determine what they want to make of their future.

en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela

[cthulu2016]

1. Yup. Much worse than Syria, even (Nobel peace prize was deserved)

[jberryhill]

2. Syria with nukes