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.