United States President George W. Bush signed a bill Tuesday to remove Nelson Mandela as well as the other South African leaders from the US terror watch list, BBC reported.

Mandela and other members of the African National Congress “made it” to the US terror watch list because they fought against South Africa's apartheid, a system of legalized racial segregation which was put into effect by the National Party government between 1948 and 1994.

South Africa’s old apartheid regime designated ANC as a terrorist organization, thus determining the United States to include ANC members on the terrorist list.

The bill enables the State Department and the Homeland Security Department to lift the restriction against ANC members who until now were barred from entering the United States without a waiver from the secretary of state. In fact, the only place in the U.S. where ANC members were allowed to enter so far was the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Bush’s move was described by a US senator as a step towards removing the shame of dishonoring this great leader. Nelson Mandela was the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1993 when he shared the great distinction with F. W. de Klerk, the South African president and National Party leader with whom Mandel collaborated in the struggle to end apartheid.

"He had no place on our government's terror watch list, and I'm pleased to see this bill finally become law," said Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.