Press Release
From the Office of the Mayor of Tower Hamlets
For immediate release – 24 Jan. 2014
Tower Hamlets to recognise Nelson Mandela
Tower Hamlets politicians united in the Council Chamber this week to commemoration the life and legacy of recently departed Nobel Prize winner Nelson “Madiba” Mandela.
Mayor Rahman said: “It is good to see that, even posthumously, Madiba can bring contending parties together. All political groups in the Council recognised that Mandela’s achievements were beyond trivial political sniping.”
The council called upon the Mayor to make resources available from the Community Events Fund for an educational project based on Nelson Mandela for the boroughs schools in Black History Month.
In preparation for the month, council officers are drawing up options for a permanent tribute in the borough to the South African leader. As a gateway borough for the Olympics, Tower Hamlets Council also called upon Mayor Boris Johnson and London Legacy Development Corporation to name a street in the new Olympic Park after Mr Mandela in recognition of how sports can unite communities, just as Madiba, a keen athlete himself, did.
The Mayor also confirmed his plan to name a building in the new Blackwall Reach housing development after the South African Statesman.
The original Mandela legacy motion was tabled by the Mayor’s group of Councillors – proposed by Cllrs. Rabina Khan and Rania Khan.
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Notes to editors:
For information about this press release contact Numan Hussain, Political Advisor to the Mayor, on 07508 352 023 or email numan.hussain@towerhamlets.gov.uk
Mayor Lutfur Rahman 