I am nervous speaking, firstly because I am a pensioner, secondly I am unemployed, thirdly I have a bad criminal record

Former South African president Nelson Mandela

Student Jongi Klaas, 30 from South Africa, spontaneously performed the tribal dance as Mr Mandela was about to leave.

"I hadn't planned to do it, it just seemed like the right thing to do," said Mr Klaas, who is studying to be a teacher.

Student Jongi Klass recreates the traditional dance

Mr Mandela, 82, led college Master Sir John Gurdon, college President Bill Cornish, University Vice-Chancellor Sir Alec Broers and other senior scholars in a dance to the strains of the tribal anthem Mbube, which was performed by the Magdalene College choir.

Mr Mandela, who had donned the red robes of a Doctor of Law of Cambridge University, told his audience that he was always nervous speaking at such occasions because he was "a pensioner, who was unemployed and had a bad criminal record".

Special relationship

He praised the special and complex relationship between Britain and South Africa before bidding farewell to the UK.

"Britain was the main colonial power in our history and we had all the problems and consequences of such a relationship.

"At the same time, so much of what we have to build on in this competitive world is also a result of what we have gained from Britain.

"Today we interact with each other as two sovereign nations seeking to benefit mutually from the relationship that has forged between us."