It may have given the regime/supporters a fillup in that they might assume the struggle could go on for a long time, rather than say ending soon IOTL. That might delay a resolution but I'm not sure if it would help a lot.
Yes, morale and near term international environment forecast were important factors, but so was the declining economic position of South Africa, which was well and truly underway before the liberalising forces became ascendant in the USSR.