Local authorities

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.

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.

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.

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

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

Nelson and Winnie Mandela were awarded the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen in 1984, with the support of Labour and Liberal members of the city council. This press release tells how Aberdeen AA Group won support for the award from local residents in the face of opposition from Conservative councillors and the Aberdeen Evening Express.

This Declaration was adopted by the GLC in December 1983. ANC President Oliver Tambo was the main speaker at the GLC’s anti-racist rally held on the anniversary of Sharpeville, 21 March 1984.

Booklet published by the Greater London Council (GLC) for the celebratory launch of its Anti-Apartheid Declaration on 9 January 1984. The booklet recorded the statements and speeches made at the ceremony. They included messages from the Indian, Tanzanian and Swazi governments and the UN Secretary-General. The booklet also reproduced the text of the Declaration.