Having lived long enough, 85 years, to have observed the growing African population in South Africa, the evolution of the Apartheid movement does not confuse me. 

Living in Durban, it was somewhat unusual to encounter an African in the main street in my youth. Even up to 1950, when I was 15 years old, nothing much had changed; it was not the result of Apartheid; there was a sparse population of African people. 

The discovery of gold in the Witwatersrand in 1886 attracted Britains attention, and the Anglo-Boer War from 1899 to 1902 followed. It was an expensive war for Britain. It cost 200 million pounds and the loss of more than 22,000 men, including an excess of 15,000 black South Africans. 

The discovery of gold attracted many thousands of people searching for riches. They were of many races and nationalities. In the 1930s, the ruling government separated Blacks from Whites and settled the Black population in an area known as 'cordon sanitaire'  in Johannesburg. The decision gave birth to the irreversible segregation of the races. Following that, the Nationalist government published the first Apartheid law in 1949.

The growth of the Black population as it is today defies imagination. As unskilled as I am, I fail to see how any government could have foreseen or tutored the burgeoning population. Apart from all else, two vastly different ethnic groups with differing objectives needed direction. 

The Nationalist government was undoubtedly aware of global opinion regarding Apartheid, but the solution was not that easy. To throw the switch or not to throw it, either way, it invited chaos.

In my opinion, it was a brilliant idea to present Mr Mandela with the choice. All anticipated the direction he would choose; consequently, the country has been wallowing in the dark ever since. It pleased the world, and it proclaimed Mr Mandela a martyr while many of the whites who had the necessary skills or ancestral roots sought new horizons.