Full speech by Mike Terry

Mr Mayor, Cllr Meehan, Councillors, Officers and Members of the public, I would like to express my deep appreciation to the Council of the London Borough of Haringey for the opportunity of addressing the Council on the eve of Nelson Mandela’s 90^th Birthday. I can think of few places, if any, outside of South Africa where it would be more appropriate to celebrate this occasion because of the unique association of the Borough with Nelson Mandela.

Mr Mayor, this association reaches back over almost five decades. As Nelson Mandela recounts in his autobiography and Anthony Sampson elaborates further in Mandela’s official biography, he spent 10 days on a ‘semi-underground’ visit to London in 1962. For much of this time he was in meetings with the leadership of the External Mission of the ANC based in London many of whom had sought refuge in what was to become, in 1965, the London Borough of Haringey, the most significant of whom were Oliver Tambo, then Deputy President of the ANC and his wife Adelaide; Yusuf Dadoo, the President of the South African Indian Congress and Vella Pillay, one of the SAIC stalwarts  – all of whom were Haringey residents.

Nelson Mandela confesses, in his autobiography, “to being something of an Anglophile” and I am certain that he in part was influenced by his knowledge of the warmth of the welcome experienced by this South African exile community that chose Haringey as their home.

Mr Mayor, Haringey was also in a real sense the birthplace of the campaign to Free Nelson Mandela that captured the imagination of millions of people in Britain and the world over during the 1980s. For it was in the temporary dome at Alexandra Palace that was constructed after the fire in 1980 that the first Nelson Mandela Birthday concert was organised on 18^th July 1983 to mark his 65^th birthday. Entitled African Sounds for Nelson Mandela, it was the brainchild of the South African jazz musician, Julian Bahula. With Hugh Masekela heading the line-up, African musicians from across the continent came together in Haringey to celebrate his 65^th birthday. Towering over the stage was a massive bronze resin bust of Nelson Mandela which the late Ian Walters brought to Haringey for its first public display – the bust now stands on the South Bank by the Festival Hall Also present, making her first ever public appearance in Britain, was Nelson Mandela’s oldest daughter Zenani who was to return to Haringey in October 2007 to bring a message from Nelson Mandela for the unveiling of the Oliver Tambo bust which was, of course, also the work of Ian Walters

So powerful was the “Free Nelson Mandela” message which echoed Haringey that day, that it inspired one of those present, Jerry Dammers of the Specials AKA to write the Free Nelson Mandela song which was to become the anthem of the campaign and only two weeks ago was sung again to close the Nelson Mandela 90^th Birthday Concert in Hyde Park.

With Oliver Tambo’s son, Dali, Jerry went on to form Artists Against Apartheid which with the Anti-Apartheid Movement organised the Nelson Mandela 70^th Birthday Tribute at Wembley Stadium in 1988. Broadcast world-wide, this served as the launch for one of the most effective campaigns ever to be organised and culminated in Mandela walking out of prison a free man just 20 months later.

As a Council you and your constituents can be justifiably proud that this campaign had its birthplace in Haringey.

Mr Mayor, another event occurred in 1983 which I doubt is recorded in any written history other than possibly in the annals of the South African security police. Sadly Yusuf Dadoo died in September of that year and one of the mourners was Zac Yacoob, a remarkable South African attorney – now a member of South Africa’s constitutional court. He managed to get permission from the South African authorities to attend the funeral on behalf of the Natal Indian Congress. Zac was also a key figure in the recently formed Release Mandela Committee within South Africa and I still remember a group of us sitting in the gardens of the Dadoo’s flat in Muswell Road after the funeral planning how we could co-ordinate the international campaign with the developing campaign within South Africa – the possibilities for which had never existed before. It marked a turning point in our solidary work.  

Mr Mayor, there is much more that can be said about Haringey’s association with Nelson Mandela. There was the naming of Nelson Mandela Close off Coppetts Road in 1984; there was the campaigning work across the Borough by the Haringey Anti-Apartheid Group; there was also more grass roots campaigning by local groups such as the Broadwater Farm Youth; there was the very special contribution of the late Bernie Grant, MP for Tottenham; who served on the Executive of the AAM; was in South Africa a the time of  Nelson Mandela’s release in 1990 and was instrumental in convincing Mrs Thatcher that if South Africa’s first democratic elections were to be genuinely free and fair then the ANC and other anti-apartheid organisations needed the resources to contest them on an equal basis.

And of course, the association was symbolised with the return visits to Haringey by Nelson Mandela later in 1990 to meet with his life long friend, Oliver Tambo, recuperating from his stroke in Alexandra Park Road before his return from exile in December 1990.

Mr Mayor, in conclusion, may I quote the words of Nelson Mandela in his message to the ceremony last October for the unveiling of the bust of Oliver Tambo:

“It is especially appropriate that this memorial is in Haringey as it as this community which welcomed into its midst during their time in exile not only Oliver, Adelaide and the Tambo children but many others who are remembered today as equally valiant heroic veterans of the struggle.

It is also fitting that the Memorial should be sited in the park where the young Tambo children played and relaxed as they grew up. We hope that this Memorial will inspire future generations of young people to embrace the ideals that Oliver dedicated his life to”.

As we celebrate Nelson Mandela’s 90^th birthday, Haringey can be truly proud of its close association with Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo and many others whose struggles and sacrifices contributed to ridding the world of the evil of apartheid.

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