South Africa | Sale of Nelson Mandela's hearing aid and other assets – South Africa tries to block

of South Africa the government tries to block an auction where a national hero is for sale For Nelson Mandela belongings, are reported by, among others, the British channel BBC and a US magazine The New York Times.

Guernsey's has an auction house on the market among others, Mandela's hearing aid, identity card, letters he wrote in prison and “Madiba” shirts. Madiba was Mandela's clan name, by which South Africans have respectfully called him.

Nelson Mandela (1918–2013) made a significant life's work as a fighter against the apartheid system of racial oppression. He had to spend decades in prison.

After the overthrow of apartheid, he was the first president of the new South Africa from 1994 to 1999.

Mandela's the objects have been put up for auction by his daughter Makaziwe Mandela.

There are a total of 70 items for sale, and the auction is scheduled to take place in February. The objects can be seen in advance at Lincoln Center in New York, but the auction itself is conducted online.

According to The New York Times, Guernsey's has estimated the value of the objects to be auctioned at a total of 2–3 million dollars, or a couple of million euros.

of South Africa the government has taken a stand because it believes that Mandela's items are an inalienable part of the national heritage. The government will try until the end to block the auction through the courts.

The government does not seem to succeed in its intentions. In December, a court in South Africa's administrative capital, Pretoria, ruled that the government's understanding of national heritage is too broad.

According to the judges, not all objects that Mandela owned or touched could possibly be classified as part of South Africa's common property.