Now please point out where somebody said THAT? What people have been saying, truthfully, is that this invention of Mandela being a smiling, friendly old grandfather figure who stood for racial equality and understanding is nothing more than an invention of the Western Left Wing media that even Mandela said he didn't quite understand.
My interpretation is that many of comments in this thread paint Mandela in a negative light using politically charged words like terrorist and condemning the actions of the ANC.
And Mandela was about racial equality AT ANY COST which noble, IMO. If Mandela was a brute, he would have slaughtered the white South African population after gaining control. He also could have deported every white South African and he wouldn't have been at fault given what the Apartheid government did to black South Africa. Hell, he could have forcefully taken all of the wealth for redistribution and he didn't even do that (even though his people suffer in abject poverty) all in the name of reconciliation. He's practically a saint in my eyes. If you can't see that, then I don't know what to tell you.