“Mandela had a 27 year struggle for freedom, Glasgow played a small part I think we were on the right side of history. I am very proud of that.”
It was an honour which had been bestowed on the former South African president several years before while he was still imprisoned in Robben Island.
to do so. Eight years later he visited Glasgow to thank the people after being released from prison in 1990.Crowds cheered and greeted him in George Square just a stone’s throw from Nelson Mandela Place which had been renamed after him in 1986. “I wrote to the South Africa government to say that Glasgow had done this and could I travel to Robben Island but I knew this would be refused. Instead we chose a time to present it to an African nation and Nigeria was chosen as it was the most populist African country. It coincided with the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana and I knew here would be a number of heads of state and Commonwealth representatives here when we decided on the date in August.
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