The original arrest warrant of Nobel Peace Prize winner and former South African president Nelson Mandela, which was issued as a non-fungible token (NFT), raised $130,000 (approximately Rs. 99 lakh) in an auction to support a heritage site that documents South Africa’s battle for democracy. The revenues from the transaction, according to Posthumus, chief executive officer of Momint — the NFT marketplace that sold the Mandela item — would go to the Liliesleaf Museum historical site, which got the original document as a donation in 2004.
In an interview with Bloomberg, Ahren described the partnership as a method to revitalise their flow and keep history alive, saying it will help the museum locations stay financially due to the lack of tourism caused by the virus. According to him, the buyer of the NFT will also have unique access to the original document — which documents the nation’s struggle for democracy and is visible through the high-definition scan’s paper — at Liliesleaf Museum.
The original document, dated 1961, is handwritten in both English and Afrikaans and is now yellowed, with deformed margins and staple holes on one side. Since roughly 2006, it has been housed at the Liliesleaf Farm historic site archives in Johannesburg, according to Wolpe.
From 1961, Liliesleaf Farm, on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa, served as the covert headquarters of the African National Congress, where Mandela and other party officials hid from police. During a police raid in 1963, several prominent campaigners were detained.
A pen pistol belonging to late South African independence hero Oliver Tambo was auctioned as an NFT last November to raise funds for the Liliesleaf Museum.
In recent months, NFTs have become increasingly popular, with caricatures of monkeys and lions fetching millions of dollars. Sports teams, luxury automobiles, and even pop stars are getting involved in the burgeoning industry, which employs blockchain technology to authenticate unique ownership tokens tied to otherwise replicable digital goods.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was the first president of South Africa, serving from 1994 to 1999. He was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and political leader. He was the country’s first black president and the first to be elected in a democratic election with full representation. His government aimed to undo apartheid’s legacy by combating institutionalised racism and promoting racial healing. He was the head of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997, and was an ideological African nationalist and socialist.
For much of his life, Mandela was a divisive figure. Despite the fact that right-wing critics labelled him a communist terrorist and far-left critics said he was too eager to engage and reconcile with apartheid supporters, he won international renown for his activity. He garnered more than 250 honours, including the Nobel Peace Prize, and is widely regarded as a global icon of democracy and social justice. He is revered in South Africa, where he is known as the “Father of the Nation” and is generally referred to by his Thembu clan name, Madiba.
