Mandela dedicates statue to 'all who resisted oppression'

Published on Thursday 30 August 2007 01:20

NELSON Mandela saluted the heroes of South Africa's struggle against apartheid yesterday at the unveiling of his statue at a ceremony in London recognising him as one of the greatest leaders of the age.

Mr Mandela, 89, said the statue - which joins those of Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill in London's Parliament Square - was a symbol for all those who resisted oppression.

"Though this statue is of one man, it should in actual fact symbolise all those who have resisted oppression, especially in my country," Mr Mandela said at the ceremony attended by the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown.

"The history of the struggle in South Africa is rich with the stories of heroes and heroines, some of them leaders, some of them followers. All of them deserve to be remembered."

Mr Mandela appeared frail, leaning on the arm of his wife, Graca Machel, but spoke clearly as he invited the crowd to celebrate his 90th birthday next year at a concert in London's Hyde Park in support of his efforts to combat HIV/AIDS.

Mr Brown called the statue "a beacon of hope".

Mr Mandela came to personify the black majority's struggle to end apartheid, spending 27 years in jail before being released in 1990 and becoming South Africa's first black president in 1994.