APA-Pretoria (South Africa) The daughter of former South African president Nelson Mandela has been granted the right to sell 70 of her father’s personal items, including an identity card, personal drawings and his famous Madiba shirts.
According to reports monitored here on Friday, Makaziwe Mandela won a two-year legal battle against the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) which attempted to stop her from selling the icon’s possessions.
SAHRA argued that 29 of the items belonging to Mandela were heritage objects and asked the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to order Makaziwe to return them to South Africa.
The court, however, dismissed SAHRA’s application, saying there was little evidence to support its claim that the items were heritage objects.
According to the reports, the auction, which was initially scheduled to take place in New York City in the United States on 28 January 2022 and had been stalled by the legal challenge, would now be held next month in the US city.
New York-based auctioneer Guernsey’s has set 22 February as the date for the sale of the 70 items belonging to Mandela.
These will include Mandela’s ID issued in 1993, letters from prison, his walking stick, drawings he sketched while in prison, a gift from former US President Barack Obama and wife Michelle and many other gifts he received while in office.
The company said the money from the auction would be used to build a memorial garden at Mandela’s gravesite in Qunu in the southeast of South Africa.
NM/jn/APA