Auction of Mandela items lined up

South African government had tried to block sale.

Nelson Mandela’s eldest daughter is moving forward with an auction next month of the former president’s personal belongings after a two-year legal battle with the South African government, which had tried to block such a sale by saying the items were artifacts of national heritage.

The proposed sale had drawn attention when it was announced in 2021. South African officials balked, objecting in particular to the sale of a key to the Robben Island prison cell where Mandela was held.

Proceeds from the auction are intended to finance a memorial garden honoring Mandela, who dedicated most of his life to emancipating South Africa from white minority rule, the organizers said. He died in 2013 at 95, 23 years after his release from prison and 19 years after he was elected president.

The key, which was the piece that initially led to the government’s misgivings about the auction, has been part of a traveling exhibit. While it is not currently included in the sale, organizers say there still is a chance it could be added.

In attempting to block the auction, the South African Heritage Resources Agency went to court, arguing in its filings that some of the 70 items now for sale were “heritage objects” under the nation’s Heritage Act and, as such, could not be removed from the country without a permit.

The first attempt at a sale, in 2022, had to be canceled.

But in December, a threejudge panel of the high court in Pretoria, South Africa, sided with Mandela’s daughter, Makaziwe Mandela, ruling that the agency’s interpretation of “heritage objects” was “overbroad.”

The decision appears to have cleared the way for a sale by Guernsey’s auction house in New York on Feb. 22. The auction, which will be previewed at Jazz at Lincoln Center and is to take place online, will include Mandela’s official South African Identification Book, personal

gifts from U.S. presidents, several of his colorful “Madiba” shirts and even his hearing aids.

The auction house has estimated the collective value of the 70 lots to be between $2 million and $3 million. Makaziwe Mandela, who holds a doctorate in anthropology, has authorized the auction as a fundraiser for the building of the Mandela Memorial Garden, which is planned for 24 acres in the Eastern Cape village of Qunu, where her father grew up and was buried.

In a video interview from Johannesburg, Mandela said her father had made clear that he wanted to be buried “where he came from, among his ancestors,” and also wanted that region, formerly known as the Transkei, to benefit economically from tourism.

“It is my wish that before I close my eyes on nature, I will honor my father with a memorial garden,” she said. “That’s what my father

would want.”

Asked of the message she seeks to send through the auction, she said, “I want other people in the world to have a piece of Nelson Mandela — and to remind them, especially in the current situation, of compassion, of kindness, of forgiveness.”

Leomile Mofutsanyana, a heritage officer with the South African Heritage Resources Agency, said in an email that the agency had “no comment on the matter,” adding that “all official statements will be widely communicated in due course.”

Guernsey’s said the auction will include personal letters Mandela wrote from prison, artwork he created during his incarceration on Robben Island and a tennis racket he used while in prison there. The pinstripe suit Mandela wore when he was elected president also will be on offer, as will a woven wool blanket, styled like an American flag, that was a gift from President

Barack Obama.

Makaziwe Mandela said she sought out Guernsey’s because it has handled sales of memorabilia of other “important people who were fighting for freedom,” like John F. Kennedy and Rosa Parks.

Nelson Mandela’s fight was against the racist apartheid system of South Africa. A pivotal leader of the African National Congress, which the government banned, he went underground as part of its guerrilla wing, Spear of the Nation. He was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of conspiring to overthrow the government. Years later, he negotiated an end to apartheid, at first secretly from prison. He shared the Nobel Peace Prize with South Africa President F.W. de Klerk in 1993.

Representing Mandela “is absolutely more than humbling,” said Arlan Ettinger, Guernsey’s president, and “a bit overwhelming.”

GUERNSEY’S VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES This woolen blanket, which evokes the U.S. flag, was given to Nelson Mandela by President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle. It will be part of the auction next month, which includes numerous other personal items.

HOUSE OF MANDELA VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES Makaziwe Mandela, the eldest daughter of Nelson Mandela, had first proposed the sale in 2022 before the government said the items were artifacts of national heritage and couldn’t be sold.

GUERNSEY’S VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES Among the items that will be auctioned off is this Madiba shirt worn by Nelson Mandela. His daughter said she wants “other people in the world to have a piece of Nelson Mandela.”

GUERNSEY’S VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES Nelson Mandela’s identification book is one of the items to be auctioned. Money raised will go toward a 24-acre memorial garden in Qunu, where Mandela grew up and is buried.