South African Government Seeks to Halt Auction of Mandela Items – The New York Times

Advertisement
Supported by
The government said that it is seeking to appeal a court ruling that had allowed the proposed online auction of some of Nelson Mandela’s belongings to move forward.
By Matt Stevens
The South African Heritage Resources Agency is seeking to prevent an auction of dozens of Nelson Mandela’s personal belongings, saying on Thursday that it has filed court papers to appeal a ruling that had allowed the sale of the items to go forward.
Guernsey’s auction house in New York said this week that it planned to auction about 70 of Mr. Mandela’s items on Feb. 22 as part of a fund-raising effort to support the establishment of a memorial garden near where Mr. Mandela, the former South African president, is buried.
South African officials had blocked an earlier effort to sell the items on the grounds that some of them are objects of national heritage. But the organizers of the planned sale, led by Mr. Mandela’s oldest daughter, Dr. Makaziwe Mandela, won a court judgment last month.
In its ruling, a three-judge panel of the High Court in Pretoria found that the government’s claim to the items as heritage objects was “overbroad.”
But the South African Heritage Resources Agency said Thursday that, while it respects the court’s decision, it had joined with the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and the museum that manages the island where Mr. Mandela was long imprisoned to seek permission to appeal the judgment.
We are having trouble retrieving the article content.
Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Advertisement

source

About The Author

admin

See author's posts