FILE – Nelson Mandela, left, and former US president Bill Clinton look to the outside from Mandela’s Robben Island prison cell in Cape Town, South Africa, March 27, 1998. A South African Cabinet minister on Friday Dec. 24, 2021, urged the cancellation of an upcoming U.S. auction of a key to the Robben Island prison cell where Nelson Mandela, the country’s first Black president, was long jailed for his opposition to apartheid.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African Cabinet minister on Friday urged the cancellation of an upcoming U.S. auction of a key to the Robben Island prison cell where Nelson Mandela, the country’s first Black president, was long jailed for his opposition to apartheid.
The key is among Mandela memorabilia being sold by Guernsey’s auction house in New York on Jan. 28. Most of the items were provided by members of Mandela’s family to raise funds for a planned museum and garden around his grave, while the key is being sold by Mandela’s former jailer who became his friend.
“It is unfathomable for Guernsey’s, which is clearly aware of the painful history of our country and the symbolism of the key, to consider auctioning the key without any consultation with the South African government, the heritage authorities in South Africa and Robben Island Museum,” Minister of Sport, Arts, and Culture Nathi Mthethwa said in a statement.
“This key belongs to the people of South Africa under the care of Robben Island Museum and the South African State. It is not anyone’s personal belonging,” said Mthethwa.
In response, the auction house said the proceeds of the sale are to raise funds to build a 24-acre memorial garden and museum around Mandela’s burial site. Mandela’s oldest daughter, Makaziwe Mandela-Amuah, approached Guernsey’s to hold an auction of Mandela memorabilia to help build the garden, Arlan Ettinger, president of Guernsey’s, told The Associated Press.
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