At a special hearing chaired by commission chairman Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former defence force chief Viljoen said Afrikaners saw only the "ugly face" of the violence which obscured the idealism of liberation.
"Bombs were planted in restaurants, bars and public places. In this way a situation developed where complete isolation from one another caused AN uncontrollable escalation of violence.
"As the conflict proceeded the mood for a settlement became more remote."
Afrikaners had been appalled by seemingly wanton violence which saw hundreds of blacks necklaced in a "most cruel way of execution".
The Afrikaner-controlled state had responded with a counter strategy of violence.
"Whatever the justification for the decision may have been, the fact remains that once you have taken the way of violence it seems to be a way of no return.
"When hundreds of farmers, many of them old and defenceless, were killed in the last few years on lonely farms often in the most brutal way, Afrikaners tended to see a direct link with the 1961 decision to introduce violence."
The violence had been a major obstacle for the Afrikaner to "find sympathy for the cause of the black man as put forward by their revolutionary organisations".
However, he acknowledged that Afrikaners had made a grave mistake in allowing its political leaders, particularly the National Party, to ignore the need for a timely settlement "with those other South Africans that shared the land".
After 40 years in government, Afrikaners had moved away from their original ideals of freedom from bondage which had prompted the trek into the interior when the British took over the Cape.
Instead, Afrikaners had assumed the characteristics of imperialist rule and introduced an era of white domination which denied democratic rights to others.
"And with the resistance that always is drawn by the denial of democratic rights, the NP had to adapt to ... more stringent measures of coercion and when these failed, they found themselves far removed from their traditional value systems and power base."
Once the NP had forsaken one of the key pillars of apartheid - separate development - they were forced to resort to propaganda and force to keep political control.
However, those who profited most from apartheid were big business concerns who "publicly decried (the system) but silently used it for their own enrichment".
The FF's submission to the commission was on behalf of "ethnic Afrikaners" who had been portrayed as "verkramptes" by the NP.
This group had not been informed or prepared for the political about turn spearheaded by NP leader FW de Klerk.
"We felt betrayed and confused by Mr De Klerk's overnight change from total war to being a dove of peace.
"Let me say it: We did not believe him and most important we did not trust his negotiating capacity."
Ethnic Afrikaners had felt threatened and prepared for conflict, a well-planned campaign of resistance and mass action directed against the NP government and the ANC.
"In the end we saw little sense in more violence. We wanted, if possible reconciliation ... that would lead to peace and progress.
"If this commission can only succeed in initiating reconciliation it would have served its purpose."