South Africa Seeks to Block Sale of Mandela Memorabilia in US

By Staff, Agencies

South Africa has asked its highest court to prevent the sale in the United States of 29 objects linked to anti-apartheid leader and former President Nelson Mandela, arguing that their unauthorized export threatens the country’s cultural heritage.

The South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA), Robben Island Museum, and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture brought the case before the Constitutional Court on Tuesday. The court reserved judgment following the hearing.

The disputed collection includes Mandela’s identity document, iconic shirts, writings, glasses, gifts from former US presidents, and a broken handmade key from Robben Island. SAHRA warned that the objects were “at risk of being lost to the national estate.”

The items are controlled by Mandela’s eldest daughter, Makaziwe, and Christo Brand, a former Robben Island prison warder who later became Mandela’s friend.

In late 2021, Makaziwe consigned the objects to New York-based Guernsey’s auction house, with proceeds intended to help finance a memorial garden near her father’s grave.

The dispute centers on whether the objects are protected under South African heritage laws. SAHRA argues that their association with Mandela prevents their export without official approval, while Makaziwe says the agency has failed to establish the historical significance of each individual item and has questioned its claim to be acting in her father’s interests.

The Robben Island key has also become controversial. Brand says he found it in a prison desk and never used it to open Mandela’s cell.

During the hearing, his lawyer reportedly acknowledged that the object had been misrepresented in promotional material linking it directly to Mandela.

The auction was announced in 2021 but suspended after SAHRA intervened. The Pretoria High Court later ruled against the agency, a decision upheld by the Supreme Court of Appeal in January, which found that SAHRA had not demonstrated why each object qualified as protected heritage.

The case comes amid broader efforts by African governments to prevent historically significant cultural objects from being sold or transferred abroad.