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Nelson Mandela danced with singer Mara Louw in Glasgow’s George Square on 9 October 1993. Earlier, AAM President Trevor Huddleston presented him with a special scroll commemorating the award of the freedom of nine British local authorities. In 1981 Glasgow was the first local authority to present Mandela with the freedom of the city. Also in the photograph is the Chair of the Scottish AA Committee, Brian Filling.

Report of a seminar on the role of British trade unions in post-apartheid solidarity. The report reprinted the address of keynote speaker Jay Naidoo, former General Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and a Programme of Action for the British trade union movement.

Altogether nine British cities presented Nelson Mandela with the freedom of the city. In October 1993 Mandela visited Glasgow to meet representatives from each of the nine local councils. AAM President Trevor Huddleston presented him with a special scroll commemorating the awards.

Nelson Mandela asked the British local authorities that had campaigned for a free South Africa to build partnerships for a post-apartheid programme of reconstruction and development, when he spoke at Glasgow City Hall in October 1993.

As soon the date of South Africa’s first democratic election was agreed, the AAM launched a ‘Countdown to Democracy’ campaign. This leaflet highlighted the special problems faced by South African women in casting their votes freely and without fear of violence.

After agreement was reached on 27 April 1994 as the date for one person one vote elections in South Africa, the AAM campaigned to ensure the elections were free and fair. Its Countdown to Democracy programme focused on voter education. This leaflet asked for donations for a special Education for Democracy in South Africa Fund, supported by the main British teacher unions and the National Union of Students.

Scotland was twinned with the Transkei in the twinning programme set up by the AAM in the early 1990s. This appeal asked the Scottish people to support voter education, literacy, and women’s and arts projects in South Africa, as well as the work of the Scottish AA Committee. In 1994 Scottish AA set up Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) Scotland, which forged close links with the new Eastern Cape province.

Sheffield AAM aimed to raise £5,000 for the ANC Election Fund in the run-up to South Africa’s first democratic election in April 1994. The Fund raised £1,000,000 in Britain, much of it from the trade union movement.