Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the world-renowned former leader of the African National Congress was one of the founders of the ANC's military wing, MK. He praises the role Robert played in the struggle.

"[McBride] was one of those who risked his life during one of the most difficult periods of our history," he says. "He was in the forefront. So much so, you remember, they were sentenced to death. And of course, the death sentence we made it illegal. But then, he, and the two others (Mthetheleli Mncube and Mzondeleli Nondula), their sentence was commuted."

Mandela relates how he insisted that McBride and two other reprieved death inmates belonging to the ANC be released.

"We reached a stage where we decided that we're not going to have meetings with the Nationalist Party at all. So we broke with the Nationalist party. Then they negotiated for the meeting to resume. And our people, quite genuinely - people like Cyril Ramaphosa - quite genuinely wanting a settlement; they had agreed when de Klerk said we'll release some, but not McBride and his two friends.

"So I said to them, 'I want McBride and those two to be released'. They felt, quite genuinely, that I was going too far."

The deliberations were taking place at an ANC National Executive Committee in Luthuli House - then known as "Shell House".

"So I said, 'Get me de Klerk'. So I spoke to de Klerk and I said, 'Look, this meeting is not taking place until you release these three'. He says, 'Look, we're prepared to increase the number of ANC people in jail who must be released'. I say, 'I welcome that. But that increase must include McBride and the two others'. "

FW de Klerk disagreed with Mandela's demand.

''Then there is no meeting,' I say", Mandela continues. "And he says, 'Give me time - just give me some time to consult'. And I say to our people, 'They need us more than we need them!' And he came back and said, 'No, we will release them. But it's Friday today. We can only release them on Monday'. I say, 'Then we'll accept your bona fides'. That's how they were released."

He felt morally bound to stand by McBride, Mncube and Nondula.

"Because I don't want to be influenced in our attitude towards our people - who have helped this achieve this liberation - I'm not going to be influenced by other members of society who never shared our experience. And it was for that reason that I was prepared ever to break the negotiations if they are not released."

Mandela rejects the equation of the former MK cadre to white right-winger Barend Strydom.

"That equation doesn't apply at all," he insists. "Because McBride was part of a political organisation: the ANC. He was a trained member of Umkhonto We Sizwe, and he was carrying out instructions, even though civilians were injured. But he was carrying out instructions in order to promote the aims and objects of the struggle. Barend Strydom was just a criminal who was motivated by pure racism. And, a chap who could say, 'Blacks are not humans, they are animals!' So the comparison is a mischievous one - to the knowledge of those who make that comparison."

Formal talks between the Nationalist Party Government and the ANC started after Mandela's release from prison. During the first contact between the two parties' leaders in Groote Schuur, they signed a "Groote Schuur minute" laying down the foundation for negotiations.

Mandela visited Robert McBride and other inmates at Pretoria Central prison's death row soon after the signing of the "minute".

"I didn't want our people to think that, because they are in jail, we have forgotten about them," the statesman explains. "Or that we must have no connections with them. I wanted to go to jail for them to know that we think of them. And, they had done work, and we're going to make sure that they come out. That was the reason of going there."

Towards the end of his tenure as President, he once again had to deal with the hostility Robert McBride evokes in some sections of South African society.

When the Foreign Affairs official was arrested on alleged gun-running charges in Mozambique, the so-called Meiring report alleged that he was part of a plot by a number of leading activists in the country to unseat Mandela's government.

The former President knew that the report was prepared by Military Intelligence, which was composed of the old staff from the South African Defence Force.

"The idea was to prevent blacks - Africans, Coloureds and Indians - taking commanding positions. They knew that we are coming, and that is why they mentioned people like Sphiwe Nyanda. They mentioned all the tops chaps as being involved in a plot to try to overthrow us."

Finally, I ask Mandela about white South Africa's unforgiving spirit when it comes to McBride. Does he think McBride would ever be viewed differently by white South Africa - like Mandela himself, who has, in their eyes, turned from a feared "terrorist" to a respected statesman?

He draws my attention to a recent survey conducted by an Afrikaans Sunday newspaper.

"Even today, you know, although we have launched this reconciliation and nation-building - and it's going on very well - do you know that Rapport two weeks ago published a survey of the support of political parties from the Afrikaner community?" Mandela asks. "The Democratic party had about 29 per cent support, and the other parties were above us. We got 0,08 percent - the support which that ANC has from the Afrikaner community!"

There is palpable anger in the octogenarian's voice, and he hits the table with his fingers as he makes the point.

"And, notwithstanding what we have done - this is notwithstanding the fact that we said, 'Those people who committed atrocities in promoting the aims and objects of their political organisations - it doesn't matter what the atrocity is - we will give them amnesty'. In spite of that, they do not think that they can join the ANC. I mean, 0,08 per cent!"

McBride himself is more direct in response to the same question. He foresees himself carrying "the problem of the colour line" (duBois) some distance into the twenty-first century.

McBride identifies two contributing factors to the intense white enmity towards him: the colour of the three people who died during the "Magoo"/"Why Not" bomb blast and his [own] Colouredness.

As Mandela has related, during the negotiations between the ANC and the then Nationalist Party Government, there were ANC leaders who felt the Nationalist Party should not be "pushed" too hard to release McBride.

Robert could not understand that. MK activists like Ronnie Maboa and Stephen Vilakazi, who had detonated a car bomb which had killed the same number of victims as his, were released without any protests. The only difference was that the victims of the Witbank car bomb detonated by Maboa and Vilakazi were black.

"It’s also inferior complex amongst ANC members because by allowing me to stay in jail longer because I killed white people, they are acknowledging and confirming that white life is more expensive than black life," McBride argues. "That’s what they are saying. That is why I’m always saying that Black Consciousness is more needed now than ever before. You can’t say much more about it where your leadership leaves you – somehow I did something wrong; somewhere along the line I did something wrong."

In the early nineties, after the negotiations had started between the ANC and the Nationalist party, cadres of the PAC's armed wing, the Azanian People's Liberation Army [APLA] launched a wage of indiscriminate attacks on white farmers and other civilians.

One of the operations was an attack on worshippers in the St James Church of England in the Cape Town suburb of Kenilworth on 25 July 1993. Two worshippers were killed and fifty-three wounded as a number of gun-men fired at the 1400 strong congregation.

Three PAC members; Gcinikhanya Makoma, Bassie Mkhumbuzi and Thobela Mhambisa were later granted amnesty by the TRC after they had stated that when they shot at the worshippers, they were acting under the instructions of their commanders in APLA.

At the time of the TRC hearing into the incident in July 1997, the three men were each serving an eighteen-year sentence for the killings.

Robert finds it strange that, while his face and name are seldom out the newspaper headlines, the APLA cadres who were involved in the attack on white congregants of the St James church are virtually anonymous.

"No-one remembers their names. They killed civilians specifically - they made no bones about it. The question comes: we know that white life is more expensive - has more value; (but) why then for example we don’t hear much about them. Even now. There are still people who still hate me now.

"I think the reason is one, I survived - I was on death row. APLA guys were not on death row. In spite of their ranting and ravings and going for my blood, I survived. And I never survived by sticking in a corner. Like the day before I was released, the Saturday Star or something had a picture of me, looking around scared in a cartoon and time bombs ticking all over. Then they found out this is a different animal altogether. He comes out of jail and goes straight to the East Rand defending the people against Inkatha attackers. And when you have interviews with me, I’m arrogant, straightforward. I’m not in the least intimidated. It must be a bad uppity person. So that’s one of the other reasons."

The other reason, he reckons, is because, unlike the APLA cadres, he is Coloured - a mulatto.

"It's like I’m betraying the white side somehow because I’m not pure black - whatever that means. I’m somewhat more guilty of something - I don’t know what. But it’s something which psychologists must analyse South African society about. There’s nothing wrong with me; I’m normal."

He is convinced that he will never live a "normal" life in South Africa.

"There'll be no peace for me until I’m dead," Robert predicts matter-of-factly. "They will be fighting me - trying to destroy me. And they will be losing each and every time. Because they’ve never come across somebody like me in their lives before. Anyone who’s gone through half of what I went through has either committed suicide or jumped off a building. Nobody in this country can take what I can take. So I don’t have to worry about what people say about me. The only thing I must do is just succeed more and more. They can’t touch me."