An explanatory plaque, providing context, for the statue of Nelson Mandela in Parliament Square

‘Nelson Mandela, although hugely popular during his lifetime with middle-class white liberals, was very much a man of his time with flaws which cannot today be overlooked or ignored. He founded and led a terrorist group called Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation). This organisation was responsible for the murders of many black Africans, some by means of bomb attacks and others who were burned alive as collaborators in so-called ‘necklacings’. Even from his prison cell, Mandela directed and approved terrorist bombings such as that in Pretoria in 1983 which killed many black people.’