Free Mandela

Wooden badge calling for the release of Nelson Mandela.

City of London Anti-Apartheid Group was formed in 1982. Its first activity was a non-stop 24-hour picket to demand the transfer of political prisoner David Kitson from Pretoria Central Prison. This 24-hour vigil to demand the release of Nelson Mandela held in June 1985 was a precursor of the four-year non-stop picket of the South African Embassy organised by the group from 1986 to 1990. The picket attracted hundreds of enthusiastic young activists.

Leaflet advertising a 23-hour demonstration asking Dundee City Council to confer the freedom of the city on Nelson Mandela. The leaflet also publicised a meeting at Dundee Trades Council Club and a rally in Edinburgh calling for Mandela's release. Dundee Council gave Mandela the freedom of the city on 31 October 1985.

Petition circulated by Dundee AA Group as part of its campaign to persuade Dundee City Council to confer the freedom of the city on Nelson Mandela. The City Council gave Mandela the freedom of the city on 31 October 1985.

ANC President Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela’s daughter Zenani Mandela unveiled a bust of Nelson Mandela on London’s south bank on 28 October 1985. The bust was created by sculptor Ian Walters and sponsored by the Greater London Council.

In 1985 the British Defence and Aid Fund launched the Mandela Poetry Project to mark Human Rights Day, 10 December. It asked school students to contribute poems about Nelson Mandela and other Southern African political prisoners. This poster reproduces some of the 200 poems that were written as part of the project.

Leaflet advertising the launch of City of London AA Group’s non-stop picket calling for the release of Nelson Mandela. CLAAG supporters kept up a 24-hour picket of the South African embassy for nearly four years from 19 April 1986 until Mandela’s release on 11 February 1990. The picket attracted hundreds of enthusiastic young activists.  CLAAG was formed as a branch of the AAM in 1982, but internal arguments led to its disaffiliation in February 1985.

St George’s Place in central Glasgow was renamed Nelson Mandela Place on 16 June 1986. The South African consulate was located on the fifth floor of the Stock Exchange. The photograph shows the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Bob Gray,Glasgow Councillor Pat Chalmers and Essop Pahad from the ANC at the ceremony where the new name was unveiled. After the renaming, the consulate used a post office box number instead of the address.