South Africa unveils unity statue to honour Nelson Mandela A nine metre-high bronze statue of Nelson Mandela with his arms outstretched to symbolise unity and reconciliation was unveiled in Pretoria on Monday, a day after the multi-racial nation buried its former president and anti-apartheid hero. The inauguration coincided with December 16 Reconciliation Day, a public holiday commemorating the ideal of national reconciliation that Mandela preached after his release in 1990 from the apartheid prisons where he had spent 27 years.