Key to Nelson Mandela's cell put up for sale, government stops auction

Nelson Mandela's cell in Robben Island prison.

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2 min

Controversy in South Africa after the sale of a prison cell key from the time when Nelson Mandela was locked up on Robben Island, the prison island off Cape Town.

It was entrusted to Guernsey's, a New York auction house, by Christo Brand, former jailer and friend of Nelson Mandela.

The Ministry of Culture is working on the repatriation of the key as well as the other objects put on sale.

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With our correspondent in Johannesburg,

Among all the items on sale - including an exercise bike or a copy of the Constitution signed by Nelson Mandela - it is an old prison key that has sparked controversy.

This key not only opened Mandela's cell but many others.

For Mpho Masemola, deputy secretary of the association of former political prisoners of South Africa, this key is much more than a memory.

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The owner, Christo Brand, assures that the sale was to finance a garden dedicated to Nelson Mandela in Qunu, the village where the former South African president is buried.

In the face of the outcry, the government managed to suspend the auction which was to take place on January 23.

Christo Brand agrees to withdraw it from sale and leave it in the current exhibition in the United States.

For its part, the Ministry of Culture is working on the repatriation of the key to South Africa.

This is also what the former detainee Mpho Masemola wants.

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The Ministry of Culture indeed considers that the key is property of the South African State.

The status of the other items offered for sale is also being studied. 

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• South Africa

• Nelson Mandela