Local authorities

This Declaration was adopted by the London Borough of Camden in December 1983. Similar declarations were adopted by most inner London boroughs.

In 1982 Leeds City Council renamed the gardens in front of Leeds City Hall Nelson Mandela Gardens.

Leeds City Council formally welcomed ANC representative Ruth Mompati to Leeds in the winter of 1982. In the picture with Ruth Mompati is the Deputy Lord Mayor Rose Lund. The Council named the gardens in front of the Civic Hall the Nelson Mandela Gardens. Leeds was one of many local authorities to show its opposition to apartheid in the 1980s.

Over 2,000 mayors from 56 countries signed a declaration calling for the release of Nelson Mandela in 1982. The Declaration was initiated by the Lord Provost of Glasgow, Michael Kelly, after Glasgow conferred the Freedom of the City on Mandela. This booklet lists the mayors who signed the Declaration.

A north London community bookshop hosted a photo exhibition and collection box for the Solomon Mahlangu Freedom College in the summer of 1982. Left to right: ANC representative Ruth Mompati, Jim Corrigall of Haringey AA Group, local councillor Pat Tonge, Dave Palmer of Reading Matters bookshop and local councillor Ernie Large.

In 1981 Sheffield District Council became the first British local authority to announce it would end all links with South Africa. This pamphlet reprinted the keynote speeches at a conference on the role of transnational corporations in South Africa held in Sheffield in 1982.

Sheffield was the first local authority to pass an anti-apartheid declaration, in October 1981. It pledged to boycott South African goods and ban South African entertainers and sports people from its venues. It also stated it would encourage positive teaching about African liberation struggles in local schools.

Nelson Mandela was given the Freedom of the City of Glasgow on 4 August 1981. Glasgow was the first of many British cities to honour Mandela in this way. The photograph shows ANC representative Ruth Mompati at a meeting in Glasgow City Chambers held after the award ceremony. Also in the photo are Nigerian Vice-President Alex Ekwueme,  the Lord Provost of Glasgow Michael Kelly and Scottish AA Committee Chair, Brian Filling.