Mandela on his first visit to London after release from 27 years in prison:." Our first simple and happy task is to say thank you. Thank you very much to you all…….Even through the thickness of the prison walls at Robben Island, Pollsmoor, Victor Verster, Pretoria, Kroonstad, Diepkloof and elsewhere, we heard your voices demanding our freedom. During all the days we spent buried in the apartheid dungeons, we never lost our confidence in the certainty of our release and our victory over the apartheid system." ..16.4.1990.