The Scottish Nelson Mandela Memorial Campaign is delighted to be welcoming back to Glasgow, Marah Louw, the South African singer, who sang in George Square when Nelson Mandela received the Freedom of 9 UK cities on 9 October 1993.
The iconic photograph of that occasion (pictured) was Nelson dancing with Marah. Many schoolchildren since then have been using the learning resource, commissioned by our Foundation, about Mandela and the struggle against apartheid, entitled, “When Mandela danced in the Square”
Marah will attend the public unveiling of the Nelson Mandela statue on 9 October 2026.
A celebrated South African singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality whose career spans over five decades, Marah is a long-time anti-apartheid activist and a patron of the Scottish Nelson Mandela Memorial Campaign. Marah is flying in from Johannesburg to join the Lord Provost, the South African High Commissioner to the UK, Kingsley Mamabolo, and NMSMF Chair, Brian Filling, in unveiling the statue of Nelson Mandela in Nelson Mandela Place.
Brian Filling, Chair said, “We are delighted that Marah can be with us at the fulfilment of one of the main aims of the work of our Nelson Mandela Memorial Campaign, alongside another of our patrons, Kingsley Mamabolo. It seems very fitting that Marah will be here with us as she was in 1993 when Nelson visited Glasgow to receive the Freedom of the 9 UK cities and she and Nelson did indeed dance in the square.”
The statue of Nelson Mandela was commissioned by the Nelson Mandela Scottish Memorial Foundation and created by renowned sculptor Alan B Herriot. It will stand on a plinth of South African granite in Nelson Mandela Place. *
*The stone (South African grey granite) for the plinth was procured in South Africa and transported to Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire where it has been finished and inscribed by Leiths Natural Stone. The statue was created by Alan B Herriot at his studio in Penicuik and it was cast in bronze at Powderhall Bronze Foundry in Edinburgh. The foundations for the statue were laid by the contractor, Sir Robert McAlpine.
Alan B Herriot’s work can be found at www.alanherriot.co.uk
PUBLIC UNVEILING EVENT:
9TH OCTOBER 2026 @ 16.00 HOURS