State not abandoning fight to halt Mandela objects sale

THE legal wrangling over the sale in the US of late former president Nelson Mandela’s valuable and historical heritage objects worth millions of rand could be heading to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

The SA Heritage Resources Agency (Sahra), the Robben Island Museum, and the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture have been battling at the North Gauteng High Court with one of the icon’s daughters, Dr Makaziwe Mandela, auctioneers Guernsey’s, its president and founder Arlan Ettinger, Christo Brand, described as Mandela’s “jailer-turned-friend”, and curator David Parr in a bid to halt the sale of 29 of the 70 heritage objects.

The 29 heritage objects include the key to Mandela’s Robben Island prison cell, which in December 2021 was reportedly expected to be sold for at least $250 000 (about R4.7 million based on this week’s exchange rate).

Parr told the full bench of the high court – Judge Selby Baqwa and acting judges Vuyani Ngalwana and Rathaga Ramawele – that the key was a replica of the real one and not a Robben Island prison key.

In December, the high court dismissed with costs Sahra, the Robben Island Museum and the department’s application to interdict the auction of the 29 objects, which was scheduled for January 28 this year but was suspended after engagements with Guernsey’s and Makaziwe Mandela.

On March 20, the judges dismissed the three entities’ application for leave to appeal the December ruling.

But the legal battle appears to be far from over, according to the department.

The department said: “Sahra, the Robben Island Museum and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture are in discussions in favour of a petition to the SCA.

“As a result, the matter remains sub judice and further comments are reserved for now. At the right time, consideration for a media statement will be made.”

Among the items that were to be sold were Mandela’s painting of the Robben Island Prison lighthouse, a bronze cast of his fist, a “Madiba” shirt, an identity document, glasses, gifts from former US president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, and ceremonial pens received from another US ex-president, George W Bush and the UN, among other items.

Sahra, the museum, and the department wanted Makaziwe Mandela, Parr and their agents to be interdicted and restrained from causing or allowing any of the Mandela objects in their custody or control to be sold and/ or otherwise alienated by or to any third party.

In their application for leave to appeal, Sahra, the museum and the department argued that their case raised important issues about national heritage.

However, the judges found that the mere fact that a case concerned an important matter of national importance cannot entitle a losing party to an appeal.

The judges added that the SCA would simply not be able to see past the poverty of the pleaded case in Sahra, the Robben Island Museum and the department’s papers.