Nelson Mandela dominates the wall of Sir Roger Gale’s office at the House of Commons.

The poster has been on the wall for nearly two decades.

It was brought back by the MP from a momentous visit to South Africa for the 1994 election which returned Mandela as President for a five year term.

The world leader’s image has had more prominence in the east Kent politician’s office, even than the many pictures of his own family.

Also, on his wall is a ballot paper from that election.

Sir Roger had a role to play as an independent observer in the pivotal South African chapter.

In paying tribute to Mandela, the MP recalled a visit that was both profoundly moving, and at times heart-stopping.

When the South African president later visited the UK as South African President, Sir Roger met and shook hands with him. He puts Mandela in the same category as Christ and Gandhi for his monumental and multi-national impact and influence, leaving a legacy likely to last forever.

In 1994, Sir Roger had flown overnight to Johannesburg.

It was Sunday, April 24.

He was staying in a city centre hotel when he was startled by the “biggest bomb blast I have ever heard.” Only 10 minutes earlier his bus had driven right past the 90kg car bomb.

It was placed outside the headquarters of the African National Congress, just one block away from the MP’s hotel.

Nine people were killed and 92 injured in the explosion.

Sir Roger said: “There is an image that I will never forget, the sort that freezes in your mind. I remember seeing an elderly black couple selling bananas piled high on a trestle table. They looked as if they were wearing their Sunday best, as if they had just been to church. He had on a suit and she a huge hat. Ten minutes later they were both dead.

‘We had driven right past them and the car with the bomb. It was one of those lucky escapes.”

The polls themselves unfolded calmly and with good humour, as people queued for sometimes as long as nine or 10 hours.

Independent observers were not supposed to get involved, but at one station the official ballot boxes were filled to capacity so officials were using makeshift boxes. The problem was the lack of lids.

A year after the election, Sir Roger visited Cape Town and the cell on Robben Island where Mandela had been incarcerated for 18 of his 27 years in prison.

“It is tiny, about 12ft by 8ft. It is quite extraordinary that someone could be held in that tiny space and come out without any bitterness or hatred,” he said.

“There are floor to ceiling bars and only one wall, no privacy at all. It is like a cage. His view of the world was one high barred window.”

To read the full interview with Sir Roger Gale, read this week's Thanet Extra.