Auction To Sleep in Mandela Cell Removed From Website

The organisers of an online auction in South Africa which offered the chance to spend a night in Nelson Mandela’s former prison on Robben Island have deleted it from their website.

CEO Sleepout was planning the event to mark the day Mandela, who died in 2013 at the age of 95, would have turned 100 – 18 July.

Bidders are instead being given the opportunity to stay the night in Liliesleaf farm, a property owned by the late president and anti-apartheid leader. Opening bids start at $11,000 (£8,300), and the charity says the farm can host up to 400 people.

The raid on the farm, which was an ANC hideout, led to the Rivonia Trial, which saw Mandela and other anti-apartheid activists jailed. The farm opened as a museum in 2013.

Source: BBC