The 24-second clip was reportedly filmed during a break at the infamous 1956 Treason Trial which lasted four-and-a-half years.
The interview was conducted at the Old Synagogue in Pretoria which was used as a court for the Treason Trial.
Mandela was one of the last group of 28 accused in the marathon trial who were acquitted on March 29, 1961.
Days later Mandela went underground until his arrest on August 5, 1962, which ultimately saw him spend 27 years in prison, most of them on Robben Island, before becoming the first democratically-elected President of South Africa.
It was included in a programme on apartheid South Africa called 'Boeren en Bantoes' ('Boers and Bantus', the references to white and black South Africans used during the apartheid era).
It is unclear who conducted the interview and the exact date was not immediately available.
"We are excited to have this historical material of what we now believe is the first television interview with Nelson Mandela," said Sello Hatang, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
"It was previously believed the first television interview was done while Nelson Mandela was underground in late May 1961," the Foundation said.
The rights holder, AVROTROS, has waived its licence fee for the Nelson Mandela Foundation and has authorised it to use the clip for one year.
Mandela died on December 5, 2013, aged 95.
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