A BUST of former South African president Nelson Mandela will be unveiled at Glasgow City Chambers.

Tomorrow's event coincides with the anniversary of Mr Mandela's 1993 visit to the city, following its bold decision, 12 years earlier, to award him the Freedom of the City.

Glasgow was the first city to grant the honour to Mr Mandela, who was a political prisoner until 1981 because of his anti-apartheid beliefs.

In a bold move to send a message to the then apartheid regime, in 1986 the council renamed St George's Place as Nelson Mandela Place.

This was highly significant, as the South African Consulate was based there.

In October 1993, two years after his release from prison, Mr Mandela came to Glasgow, where he was described by the then council leader Jean McFadden as "a symbol of the fight for equality and freedom across the world".

The event famously saw Mr Mandela dancing on stage in George Square, to the delight of the crowd of 10,000 people who had come to see him.

Lord Provost Sadie Docherty will unveil the new bronze to invited guests, including the South African High Commissioner, His Excellency Mr Obed Mlaba and Mr Brian Filling Honorary Consul to South Africa.

The sculpture, which is slightly larger than life, will serve as a permanent reminder of an iconic freedom fighter and Glasgow's role in opposing apartheid.

Celebrated sculptor Deirdre Nicholls won the £20,000 commission to create the bronze which will be displayed in the foyer of the Chambers. She is also due to attend the unveiling.

A plaque commemorating the 30th anniversary of Glasgow awarding Mr Mandela the Freedom of the City is also in the foyer of the council headquarters.

It was unveiled, in 2011, by Denis Goldberg, a fellow defendant at the now infamous Rivonia trial.

The plaque is engraved with the words Mr Mandela spoke from the dock during his 1964 trial.

It reads: "I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.

"It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."

Earlier this year a book signed by Nelson Mandela when he was a prisoner was on display in the city.

The "Robben Island Bible" - a copy of the complete works of Shakespeare, disguised as a Bible, which the prisoners read - was on display at the Mitchell Library to mark Nelson Mandela International Day.

vivienne.nicoll@ eveningtimes.co.uk