Former president Nelson Mandela on Sunday said his predecessor F.W. de Klerk deserved a place in history and he had no regrets about sharing the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with him. De Klerk had helped prevent civil war and ensure a peaceful political changeover in South Africa, Mandela said in an interview with the SABC. “As far as I am concerned, if he had not played that role, it is very likely that South Africa would have gone up in flames,” he said. “Whatever mistakes he (De Klerk) has made, he has a place in history.” Mandela was responding to a statement by Cape Town’s former Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, that he now regretted having backed De Klerk’s nomination for the prize. Tutu, himself a Nobel peace laureate, said he was disappointed at De Klerk’s refusal to take responsibility for human right abuses committed during his presidency.