MIDDLESBROUGH Town Hall’s Mandela Room is to be rededicated to the inspirational former South African leader.
A motion was put before a meeting of Middlesbrough Council by coun Mike Carr who joined the anti-apartheid movement 50 years ago.
Coun Carr also studied alongside Mandela’s Thabo Mbeki, who succeeded Mandela as president of South Africa and whose Govan Mbeki, was imprisoned by the apartheid regime.
Coun Carr said: “In the mid-1980s, a number of local authorities used a variety of methods to raise the issue of apartheid.
"Our contribution, modest enough in itself, was to name our major committee and meeting room the Mandela Room in 1986.
"It was a gesture widely welcomed in the town, not least because it was making a statement not just about racial equality in South Africa, but about racial equality in Middlesbrough as well.”
It was agreed unanimously that the room should be rededicated at a council meeting.
A small ceremony to mark the event is expected to be organised in due course.
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