SAHRA refused leave to appeal ruling dismissing bid to take control of items linked to Madiba
The items were set to go under the hammer at New York-based Guernsey’s but the auction was put on ice after the agency’s intervention.
FILE: Former South African President, Nelson Mandela. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Library of the London School of Economics and Political Science
JOHANNESBURG - The South African Heritage Resource Agency (SAHRA)'s been refused leave to appeal a December judgment dismissing its bid to wrest control of various items linked to former President Nelson Mandela.
The items were set to go under the hammer at New York-based Guernsey’s but the auction was put on ice after the agency’s intervention.
It claimed they were heritage objects; and that Mandela’s daughter, Makaziwe Mandela- Amuah, together with his ex-gaoler-turned-friend, Christo Brand, had shipped them out of the country illegally.
The High Court ultimately disagreed, though, and so the agency then lodged an application for leave to appeal its ruling on the matter to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
A full bench of the High Court heard the South African Heritage Resource Agency’s application for leave to appeal earlier this month.
But in its ruling, which was handed down on Wednesday, the bench found the application did not meet the requirements.
It found there were no prospects of success on appeal nor were there any other compelling reasons why the appeal should be heard.
The court said it would be "irresponsible" of it to "burden" the SCA with the case.
The case was as a result dismissed and a costs order issued against the agency.