This is the first picture of the statue of Nelson Mandela to be unveiled in Parliament Square tomorrow.

The former South African President will finally take his place in the central garden of the square, alongside Churchill, Disraeli and Sir Robert Peel, after a five-year battle about where the bronze statue should be situated. The 9ft, one-tonne artwork will face the Palace of Westminster, close to a statue of another former South African leader, Jan Smuts.

Mr Mandela, 89, will attend the unveiling of statue, designed by the sculptor Ian Walters, who died in 2006. A spokesman for the Nobel prizewinner said: “Mr Mandela is honoured by the initiative taken by the British public paying tribute to him in this way. ”

Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, said that placing the statue in Parliament Square reflected Mr Mandela’s significance as “one of the key political figures of our time”.

In his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, Mr Mandela recalled a visit to London with Oliver Tambo, his fellow anti-apartheid campaigner. “When we saw the statue of General Smuts near Westminster Abbey, Oliver and I joked that perhaps someday there would be a statue of us in its stead.”

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