Nelson Mandela’s eldest daughter, Makaziwe Mandela-Amuah, has begun a legal battle with the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) over the sale of her father’s objects. According to Mandela-Amuah the agency is acting against its functions in its claim to her private property. The agency and the Department of Arts and Culture want her move to export the items to be stopped.
Speaking on VOC’s Drive Time show on Tuesday, the agency’s spokesperson, Ben Mwasinga, says the agency’s position is not to dispute the ownership of the late president’s items.
“First and foremost, the objects in question are again within private ownership. However, the issue at hand is that the objects were exported without a permit so the point that needs to be highlighted is, if these items were being sold within the country, she [Mandela-Amuah] would not need a permit and SAHRA would not be in the position to dispute this sale,” explained Mwasinga.
According to News24, Mandela-Amuah has reiterated that her father’s items in her possession are private property and not to be mistaken as heritage objects.
But ‘these artefacts need to be retained for future generations’. This is according to Mwasinga who mentioned that SA has laws in place that are set to safeguard relics not only related to former president Nelson Mandela but other major political events and/or figures of significance.
“There is a crisis of heritage objects from the African content being in Europe. Several countries across the continent are still trying to repatriate objects that were taken during colonization,” said Mwasinga.
“At this point the case is in court and we are open to dialogue, we hope for an amicable solution but our position remains that these objects must be returned to SA first and the proper procedure must be followed in terms of permitting the relics so that the citizens are afforded the opportunity to access their history,” added Mwasinga.
VOC
