Mandela items auction faces South Africa top court bid

South Africa's government asked the Constitutional Court on Tuesday to halt the planned auction in the United States of 29 items that belonged to Nelson Mandela, arguing that they are part of the country's heritage.

The South African Heritage Resources Agency and the culture ministry asked the court to rule that the sale and export of the memorabilia would be illegal because the objects belonged in South Africa. In a court summary, they argued the objects “are deemed to be heritage objects and their unpermitted export was unlawful”.

The planned sale by New York-based Guernsey's includes Mandela's identity card, shirts, clothing, writings, gifts from former US presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, and a key to the Robben Island prison cell where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in jail.

The auction was first advertised in 2021 and suspended in 2022 after SAHRA moved to reclaim control over some of the items. It was advertised again in 2024 after South African judges cleared the sale, then put on hold again as the government continued its challenge.

The Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed SAHRA's objections in January, saying the agency had to establish why each object was a heritage object, according to the court summary.

Mandela's eldest daughter, Makaziwe, authorised the auction as a fundraiser for a memorial garden next to her father's resting place in Qunu. Mandela was elected South Africa's first democratic president in May 1994, served until June 1999 and died in December 2013 at the age of 95.