The highest civic honour, the Freedom of the City, was conferred by the city of Aberdeen in Scotland on the freedom fighter Comrade Nelson Mandela and his wife Winnie, on 29th November 1984.
The scrolls marking the award were received on behalf of the Mandelas by Solly Smith, chief representative of the ANC in Great Britain and Ireland, and Mrs. Adelaide Tambo, wife of the President of the ANC.
In a moving ceremony, attended by representatives of the City Council of Aberdeen, but boycotted by the Conservative opposition councillors, Lord Provost Henry Rae described the fight for freedom and equality pursued by Nelson Mandela in the years prior to his imprisonment. He told the gathering that Nelson Mandela has spent the past 20 years in gaol in South Africa for his activities against apartheid, and has spent only two of the 25 years of his married life with his wife. Each month, he said, Mrs. Mandela flies 650 miles to visit her husband.
Lord Provost Rae stated:
"Despite their treatment, Nelson and Winnie Mandela remain symbols for the aspirations of South Africa's non-white majority, and represent persecuted and exploited peoples throughout the world. "
In his speech of thanks, Comrade Solly Smith spoke proudly of the:
" . . . defiant and resolute actions of the people within South Africa."
He also said:
"Though Nelson Mandela has been imprisoned for more than two decades, he remains a potent and international symbol of resistance against the White minority regime... For although Mandela is entombed alive, his figure towers higher than the prison walls... they have dismally failed to rob him and his people of a vision of a free, unitary and non-racial South Africa. "
The Freedom of Aberdeen has been awarded 31 times this century. Previous recipients include the Queen Mother of Great Britain, Sir Winston Churchill and Field Marshal Jan Smuts, former prime minister of South Africa. Following the official part of the proceedings, members of Aberdeen University and Aberdeen Labour Party anti-apartheid groups led a torchlight procession through the streets of Aberdeen from Cowdray Hall to the Beach Ballroom. The finale to the events took the form of an evening meal and social gathering at the Beach Ballroom, with the appropriate national emphasis on not only the food but also the music and entertainment - the District Six band from South Africa performed.
Also present was North Aberdeen Member of Parliament, Robert Hughes, a lifelong campaigner against the apartheid regime in South Africa and National Chairperson of the British Anti-Apartheid Movement.