Cape Town, Dec 25 (UNI) South Africa has demanded pause to auction of a key to the prison cell its iconic national hero and former President Nelson Mandela was once kept, media reported on Saturday.
The Guernsey’s Auction House is the organiser for the sale which is due in January in New York and Christo Brand, the prison guard of the Robben Island is the seller.
"This key belongs to the people of South Africa... It is not anyone's personal belonging," Nathi Mthethwa, Culture Minister of South Africa said.
The auction is scheduled for January 28, to raise funds for a memorial garden and museum around Mandela’s burial site, Guernsey's said.
According to BBC News, the key is one of several things set to be auctioned. Other items include Mandela's original painting "The Lighthouse, Robben Island", the exercise bicycle he was allowed to use and prison tennis racquet.
Mandela was in the prison on Robben Island for 18 out of 27 years of the time he served following his uprising against apartheid.
Mandela was released in 1990 as the African country started to move away from strict racial segregation (apartheid) - a process completed by the first multi-racial elections in 1994 when he was elected the country's first black president, the BBC report said.
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