By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A South African court has dismissed an appeal by the country’s heritage body, South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) to stop the export and sale of various artefacts connected to the late anti-apartheid hero, Nelson Mandela.
The 70 personal items include a cell key from Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned for 18 of the 27 years he spent in jail, a pair of Aviator sunglasses and one of his signature floral shirts. They were due to be exported to the US for auction.
The items belong to his eldest daughter, Makaziwe Mandela and Christo Brand, a Robben Island warden during Mandela’s incarceration.
Authorities had put a legal challenge against their sale, saying they were part of the country’s heritage and therefore legally protected from export.
SAHRA was alerted about the plan to auction them in a British newspaper article late 2021, which claimed that the key would go for more than £1m ($1.35m) in the open market.
The agency at that time wrote to the US auction house, Guernsey which was organising the sale, demanding that the auction be suspended and the items returned to South Africa as its assets.
Other valuables in the lot 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 and a pen from former US President George W Bush.
Mandela’s daughter plans to use the proceeds from the sale to build a memorial garden at the late former resident’s grave in Qunu, in Mthatha, Eastern Cape province.
The Supreme Court in its ruling on the appeal argues that SAHRA’s interpretation of what items fell under the National Heritage Resources Act was overly broad.
The ruling also states that whereas Makaziwe and Brand explained in detail why their respective assets were not heritage objects, SAHRA made no attempt to 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. The BBC has contacted the sport, arts and culture department for comment.
Makaziwe, Mandela’s only daughter with his first wife, welcomed the Supreme Court’s judgment, blasting 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.
She added that no decision had yet been made on what would happen to the items meant to go on auction.
Mandela died in 2013 at the age of 95. He led the African National Congress in its struggle against apartheid, a system of legally enforced racism and was released from prison in 1990 after 27 years.
