Olushola Omogbehin
An appeal by South Africa’s heritage body to stop the sale and export of various artefacts belonging to anti-apartheid hero, Nelson Mandela, has been dismissed by a South African court.
The personal Items running to 70 include a cell key from Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned for 18 out of the 27 years he spent in prison, a pair of Aviator sunglasses and one of his signature floral shirts.
These objects which belong to mandela’s eldest daughter, Makaziwe Mandela and Christo Brand, a Robben Island warden during Mandela’s incarceration, were due to be exported to the US for auction.
In the effort to stop the sale, the authorities in charge said they were part of the country’s heritage and should legally be protected from export.
BBC reports that the first potential sale of these documents was first discovered by South African Heritage Resources Agency (Sahra) in a British newspaper article from late 2021, which claimed that the key would go for more than £1m ($1.35m).
This prompted the agency to write to the US auction house, Guernsey, that was planning the sale to ask it to suspend the auction and return the assets to South Africa.
Other documents were a copy of the 1996 South African Constitution personally signed by Mandela, one of his charcoal drawings, an ID card, a tennis racquet he used on Robben Island and gifts from world leaders, including one from former US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle.
Makaziwe plan to use the proceeds from the sale to build a memorial garden at the late former president’s grave in Qunu, in Mthatha, Eastern Cape province.
The Supreme Court of Appeal during the ruling argued that Sahra’s interpretation of what items fell under the National Heritage Resources Act was overly broad.
According to the ruling, whereas Makaziwe and Brand fully explained why their respective assets were not heritage objects, Sahra did not explain on what grounds it believed they were.
It is not yet clear whether the authorities will seek other legal avenues to block the sale.
Welcoming the Supreme Court’s judgment, Mandela’s only daughter, blasted the heritage agency for presuming “to know my father’s last wishes better than those who were beside him at the end – his family”.
“Nobody is more invested in ensuring Tata’s [Mandela’s] legacy endures in the way he would want to be remembered than those who carry his name,” she said.
However, some government supporters argued that items connected to Mandela should not be sold or exported but instead kept in South Africa for future generation while those on Makaziwe’s side believed Mandela’s family should decide what happens to the objects.
Mandela led the African National Congress in its struggle against apartheid – a system of legally enforced racism.
Released from prison in 1990, Mandela became South Africa’s first democratically elected president in 1994.
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 along with then-President FW de Klerk, he died in 2013 at the age of 95.
