Qualla: Statue of Nelson Mandela, Cape Town City Hall

Statue of Nelson Mandela, Cape Town City Hall: Introduction

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On 11 February 1990, Nelson Mandela walked out of Victor Verster Prison and drove to Cape Town. Hours later, he stepped onto the balcony of the Cape Town City Hall, overlooking the Grand Parade, and spoke to a crowd that had been waiting -- some for hours, some for decades. It was his first public speech after 27 years of imprisonment. He was 71 years old. Twenty-eight years later, on 24 July 2018, a bronze statue was unveiled on that same balcony, in that exact spot. It stands 1.95 meters tall -- ten centimeters taller than Mandela himself -- and it faces the same direction he faced when he told the crowd, and the world, that the struggle was not yet over.

Statue of Nelson Mandela, Cape Town City Hall: The Balcony and What It Witnessed

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Cape Town City Hall is an Edwardian-era building overlooking the Grand Parade, a large open square that has served as a military parade ground, a marketplace, and a gathering place for some of the most significant moments in South African history. On that February afternoon i...

Statue of Nelson Mandela, Cape Town City Hall: A Centennial in Bronze

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The statue was commissioned as part of celebrations marking what would have been Mandela's 100th birthday -- he was born on 18 July 1918 and died on 5 December 2013. The project was a joint initiative of the City of Cape Town and the Government of the Western Cape, with public pa...

Statue of Nelson Mandela, Cape Town City Hall: A Brief Disappearance

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On 11 January 2019 -- the anniversary of Mandela's release -- the statue was temporarily removed from the balcony. A film company had been granted permission by the Cape Town City Council, under Mayor Dan Plato's authority, to shoot a movie on the Grand Parade, and the statue was...

Statue of Nelson Mandela, Cape Town City Hall: Legacy Beyond the Balcony

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Inside the City Hall, a legacy exhibition center was completed and opened on 10 December 2021 by Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis. The exhibition uses audio-visual equipment, interactive displays, and interpretive panels to tell the story of the struggle for freedom, the events leading t...