Targeting civilians is the difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter . He was an integral part of MK , it ' s training and command . He refused to denounce violence whilst in prison . Also remember , the majority of MK ' s victims weren ' t white or even government targets . They were other blacks belonging to political parties other than the ANC and SACP , or people randomly accused of being spies etc . The worst of the violence committed was against his own people . Now having said that , Mandela did eventually denounce violence against civilians and admitted it was wrong . Not a lot of MK members remaining today willing to agree with that . Edit from another comment I ' ve made Look , I have to add , I ' m not trying to paint the man as some ruthless murderer . And obviously discussing his actions requires us to take into context the oppression suffered by blacks in South Africa . Obviously he felt he was forced into that position . And it is too easy for people to sit in judgement of him when they will never be in the same place he was . But at the same time , the killing of innocents should always be condemned . It cannot and should not be justified rationally . So that leaves us with history lesson of his decisions . Lets hope we learn from it .