The Western Cape government has set aside US$ 120,000 to erect a statue of former South African President Nelson Mandela at the Cape Town City Hall where he made his historic address to the world hours after being released from prison.
Economic Development Minister, Alan Winde‚ told the provincial legislature that the initiative is part of a Mandela Heritage Tourism Route which will include Robben Island where the global statesman was incarcerated for 18 years.
It will also include the Pollsmoor and Drakenstein prisons where he spent his final decade in jail. The Nobel Laureate was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 for treason.
Winde said the statue will replicate a famous photograph of Mandela standing on the city hall balcony and making his first speech after he was released from prison in 1990.
Widely regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice, Mandela received more than 250 honors and became the subject of a cult of personality around the world. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is described as the “Father of the Nation”. He died at his Johannesburg home in 2013 at the age of 95.
