Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa
Coordinates: 51°33′21.9″N 0°16′44.7″W / 51.556083°N 0.279083°W
Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa was a music concert that took place on 16 April 1990 at Wembley Stadium, Wembley Park, London, United Kingdom (UK) and was broadcast to more than 60 countries. It was held two months after the release of Nelson Mandela from a South African apartheid prison and was regarded by Mandela as an official international reception.
The success of an earlier concert, a 70th birthday-tribute concert to Mandela in June 1988, held while the black South African leader was still in prison, and the growing likelihood that he would be released reasonably soon led Mandela’s lawyer to ask Tony Hollingsworth, producer of the first concert, to organise the 1990 concert.
Mandela, his party, the African National Congress and the Anti-Apartheid Movement were convinced that the first event increased global pressure on the South African regime to release Mandela—a move that would be the first step in releasing other political prisoners and ending the apartheid regime.
Mandela’s lawyer and Mike Terry, head of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in London, met Hollingsworth in London in December 1989. According to his lawyer, Mandela was insisting on two conditions: that he would be able to talk for any length of time and that the speech would not be edited on television. It was also agreed that the widest possible international television coverage would be sought after, and that broadcast fees and gate money would not be profit-driven, but would rather be used to cover the costs of staging the concert.
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