After being arrested for setting a series of bombs to kill South African leader Nelson Mandela, white extremists were sentenced to 35 years in jail.

In 2002, nine bombings in Johannesburg's Soweto township killed one person and attempted to overthrow the governing African National Congress and kill Nelson Mandela led by members of the Afrikaner extremist group Boeremag.

Former university lecturer with a master's degree in philosophy, Mike du Toit was convicted last year of treason for his leadership role in the plot after a nine years trial. Further, 20 more members were also jailed for between five to 35 years.

Nine of the defendants will go home tomorrow serving their sentences from there, according to a National Prosecuting Authority spokesman.

The leader of the group, Tom Vorster and four members, were given some of the longest sentences as they planted a bomb on a road Mandela was going to take in order to visit a school in Limpopo Province.