By Phalasande Njengele
As South Africa moves towards Heritage Day and continues to celebrate Heritage Month, a long-running dispute over the belongings of former president Nelson Mandela has raised questions whether they should be regarded as national heritage or as private property inherited by his family.
The conflict began in 2021 when Mandela’s eldest daughter, Makaziwe Mandela, authorised the sale of some of her father’s belongings through New York-based auction house Guernsey’s. The items included his green identity document, which he used to vote in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994, his iconic patterned shirts, handwritten letters, a hearing aid and a key believed to be from his prison cell on Robben Island. Makaziwe said the proceeds from the auction would be used to raise funds for a memorial garden at her father’s gravesite in Qunu, where he was born and raised.
The South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) intervened to stop the auction, arguing that the items could constitute national heritage and could not be exported without the necessary permission. “It was not for the courts to decide whether objects are heritage objects. That job legally belongs to experts,” said SAHRA’s advocate, Robin Pearse.
Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Zizi Kodwa also supported SAHRA’s position, saying that Mandela was integral to South Africa’s heritage and that his legacy and life experiences should be preserved in the country for future generations. Makaziwe has maintained that the items are her private property, inherited from her father, and that she has the right to dispose of them as she wishes.
Lower courts ruled in her favour, finding that SAHRA would have to establish why each individual item should be classified as a heritage object rather than private property belonging to the Mandela family. The dispute has placed the question of ownership and national heritage under renewed scrutiny as South Africa celebrates Heritage Month.
