Cloud over gold Mandela hands

A SOUTH African businessman wants to sell a set of the world’s only gold casts of Nelson Mandela’s hand, estimated to be worth more than R150 million – but no one wants to buy them.

Impeding the sale of the set – which comprises an open palm, a fist and a gold plate bearing Mandela’s imprint – is the mystery about missing money destined for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund 13 years ago.

When Malcolm Duncan met Mandela for the first time in 2000, Madiba’s disarming directness won the 45-year-old Johannesburg factory owner over.

So when Mandela’s private secretary, Mary Mxadana, told him in 2003 that Harmony Gold Mine was selling solid gold casts of Mandela’s hand, with half of the proceeds going to his children’s foundation, Duncan jumped at the chance. “Hell, I felt good. I was making a lot of money from my factory,” Duncan said.

“I thought I was doing something good for someone else.”

Harmony planned to make 27 sets, one for each year Mandela was in prison.

Duncan bought what he considered the most important set – 1990, the year Mandela was released – and a fist from the 1964 set, the last year of the Rivonia trial, for R2.4-million.

Shortly afterwards Mandela had a fallout with his lawyer, Ismail Ayob, and art publisher Ross Calder, the originator of the idea, over selling his artwork.

Harmony was instructed to destroy all the castings it had made.

This left Duncan the owner of the only gold castings of Mandela’s hand in the world.

In 2007, he decided to sell the Mandela hands along with the rest of his memorabilia collection and use the proceeds to establish a vehicle parts factory in Canada, to where he had moved.

“Although several buyers expressed interest, they always baulked before the deal was clinched. I could never figure out why,” he said.

Last October, after he had returned to South Africa, he discovered what had scared off potential buyers.

Anyone doing a due diligence soon found out the children’s fund had apparently not received any of the proceeds of the sale.

The “certificate of authenticity” in the form of a metal plaque supplied by Harmony, also contained what appeared to be a glaring inaccuracy.

It stated the castings had been authorised by Calder in his capacity as trustee of the Nelson Mandela Trust.

But Calder said this week he was never and had never purported to be a trustee of any of Mandela’s trusts. He said Harmony used a wax imprint to place his signature on the engraving without his knowledge.

Harmony spokeswoman Marian van der Walt confirmed there had been discussions with Duncan and his lawyers.

She also confirmed Harmony had destroyed all its remaining castings.

Harmony’s financial director, Frank Abbott, said the hands were manufactured and certified about 13 years ago in good faith as part of Harmony’s beneficiation initiatives.

The company had limited information about what happened because all the employees familiar with the sale no longer work for Harmony.

“We are in discussions with Mr Duncan and his attorney to recertify the hands,” he said.

Makaziwe Mandela, who is handling the case on behalf of the Mandela family, declined to comment.