I cannot apologise for fighting against apartheid': Robert McBride defends Durban bombing

[R13...]

Robert McBride is not proud of causing deaths and injury in a Durban restaurant bombing in 1986.

The former police watchdog boss was in conversation with TV anchor and journalist Stephen Grootes at the launch of Robert McBride: The Struggle Continues, a book by Bryan Rostron, in Hyde Park, Johannesburg, on Tuesday evening.
McBride, an ANC operative, was arrested for the bombing at the Why Not restaurant and Magoo’s Bar on June 14 that year. Three white women were killed and 69 other people were injured.
Though McBride was sentenced to death and spent time on death row, he was released from prison in 1992 after the conclusion that his acts were politically motivated.
The book deals with McBride's trial and his time on death row. Originally written in 1991, it has been updated to include McBride’s life after the end of apartheid.
Grootes said the bombing was traumatic for many people, including McBride.
He asked McBride what was he prepared to say about the incident, to which he responded that he had already spoken of the bombing at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

He said no operation took place without clearance from the presidency.[/QUOTE]

“In the endeavour to protect the organisation, which in ‘86 was coming under a lot of pressure from the USA and from the Thatcher government, it was important that I did whatever and said whatever I had to say to take the blame upon myself and appear to be a maverick and a loose cannon, something that both my enemies and some of my comrades use against me until today,” he said.
When asked whether the views of white South Africans towards him had changed or whether he cared, McBride said he generally responded to people based on how they responded to him.
“For me the issue is [that] I cannot apologise for fighting against apartheid.”

Rest here

 

[saor]

Click click headline that makes him seem like an extremist.
These two paragraphs add a bit more nuance:

“On the one level, as part of the resistance movement against a system that was regarded as a crime against humanity ... I can justify it in terms of the decisions taken by the ANC and put my political hat on.

“But if I respond as a human being and the fact that I caused the death of fellow South Africans, albeit in a conflict, albeit in an unequal and oppressive society, then I don’t feel proud that I have caused the death and injury to South Africans or other human beings,” McBride said.

 

[Okty]

Why the need to go bomb a restoraunt with civilians and not a say a police/army/political office/union buildings etc?

Oh wait, easy target.

 

[qscwbt]

Why the need to go bomb a restoraunt with civilians and not a say a police/army/political office/union buildings etc?

Oh wait, easy target.

Because terrorists

 

[R13...]

Why the need to go bomb a restoraunt with civilians and not a say a police/army/political office/union buildings etc?

Oh wait, easy target.

Easy and also I suppose to put more pressure on the government through the pain of ordinary people. Not a good way to win hearts and minds.

 

[VooDooC]

Still don't see how killing innocent civilians will help your cause... In that sense, is it OK for me to go and kill some innocent people because my family got murdered by criminals?

 

[pinball wizard]

Why the need to go bomb a restoraunt with civilians and not a say a police/army/political office/union buildings etc?

Oh wait, easy target.

So, exactly the same as most of what the allies bombed during WW2.

It's all the same.

What you want to do is debate the end justifying the means, and leave emotion out of it.

 

[pinball wizard]

Easy and also I suppose to put more pressure on the government through the pain of ordinary people. Not a good way to win hearts and minds.

Perfect way to win hearts and minds of opponents of apartheid.

 

[satanboy]

I wish we could just move on now....

 

[saor]

Still don't see how killing innocent civilians will help your cause...

I reckon at some point desperation kicks in and any target is a valid target. It's easy to think rationally from the comfort of your armchair, but probably different living under the rule of a racist government who's demarcated the areas you can and cannot go.

 

[R13...]

Perfect way to win hearts and minds of opponents of apartheid.

Most ordinary people were also scared of terrorists owing to government propaganda plus I heard someone planted a mine at a road construction site in our area and it killed a worker.

 

[pinball wizard]

I wish we could just move on now....

How? People affected by wars and conflicts older than this one are still dealing with those. This event was only 30 years ago. How do you expect people on both sides to just move on?

 

[pinball wizard]

Still don't see how killing innocent civilians will help your cause... In that sense, is it OK for me to go and kill some innocent people because my family got murdered by criminals?

Well, that's not even remotely the same thing.

 

[satanboy]

How? People affected by wars and conflicts older than this one are still dealing with those. This event was only 30 years ago. How do you expect people on both sides to just move on?

I don't have an answer. I am still troubled by things that happened to me 30-40 years ago....but I don't publish my thoughts about it each week

 

[Stonemason]

Click click headline that makes him seem like an extremist.

He was an extremist. Three innocent women died in that bomb blast at the Magoos bar and 69 were injured. McBride and Wit Wolf Barend Strydom represents the true and very ugly face of South Africa in the 1980's and both should have hanged.

 

[satanboy]

He was an extremist. Three innocent women died in that bomb blast at the Magoos bar and 69 were injured. McBride and Wit Wolf Barend Strydom represents the true and very ugly face of South Africa in the 1980's and both should have hanged.

How many innocent people did the "apartheid" government kill?

Let's move on...

 

[Milano]

“But if I respond as a human being and the fact that I caused the death of fellow South Africans, albeit in a conflict, albeit in an unequal and oppressive society, then I don’t feel proud that I have caused the death and injury to South Africans or other human beings,” McBride said.

Go explain that to the families.

 

[Stonemason]

How many innocent people did the "apartheid" government kill?

Let's move on...

Different argument and innocence is a relative concept...

Also remember the 500 plus people killed by the liberation forces in the townships every month during the 1990's

 

[zeb]

Can you apologise for drunken driving, assault and corruption?
Or is that also justified, as an ANC member.

 

[yebocan]

So, exactly the same as most of what the allies bombed during WW2.

It's all the same.

What you want to do is debate the end justifying the means, and leave emotion out of it.

^ this, we still have a long way to go, before we reach this stage , emotion not playing a part in discourse....classic eg, benefits of colonialism/apartheid --fire might be out, but the coals are still red hot