Late South African President Mandela's statue to be installed in Colombo

COLOMBO (News1st): Sri Lanka's cabinet, this week, approved a request to construct a statue of late South African President Nelson Mandela in capital Colombo. The request had been made by the South African High Commission in Colombo. "We permitted the statue to be installed at the Colombo Municipal Library premises without government funding," Bandula Gunawardana, a co-cabinet spokesperson told reporters on Wednesday. Mandela, who died aged 95 in 2013, is famously known for his revolution against apartheid. He had served as South Africa's President from 1994 to 1999. Meanwhile, the cabinet has also drawn attention towards installing statues and monuments of national heroes at a particular place, instead of installing them in a dispersed manner.