Cape Town (AFP) - South African President Jacob Zuma unveiled a bust of Nelson Mandela on Monday, a day after the 20th anniversary of the first post-apartheid elections.
The president said there could be "no better" way of commemorating the first free elections in the country than with a sculpture of South Africa's first black president.
The bronze bust, which has been placed in front of the parliament in Cape Town, was sculpted by the son of one of Mandela's close associates.
"Just a few years ago, it would have been unthinkable to install a bust or any symbol of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela in the South African parliament," Zuma said at the unveiling ceremony.
"Madiba was then regarded as a persona non grata by the regime and the establishment," he added, using Mandela's popular name. "The South African people were told that he was a terrorist and a prisoner that they should forget about."
"Thus, there can be no better 20th anniversary gift for South Africans than to have this symbol of Madiba in parliament," he said, adding that the statue meant that lawmakers would "continue to draw lessons and inspiration from his exemplary life".
Mandela, who spent 27 years in jail under white minority rule, is revered by South Africans for negotiating an end to apartheid and bringing about multi-racial elections without a descent into civil war.
After his release from prison, he served as the country's first black president from 1994 to 1999.
He died on December 5 last year, aged 95.
Mandela's political party, the African National Congress, which is now led by Zuma, has been in power for two decades.
Zuma plans to run again for the presidency in elections on May 7, despite a controversy surrounding allegations that he enlarged his private residence at Nkandla at the taxpayers' expense.
The bust unveiled on Monday was sculpted by Dali Tambo, the son of Mandela's close associate and former ANC leader Oliver Tambo. It cost 2.5 million rands ($235,000, 170,000 euros).
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