The key to the prison cell on Robben Island once occupied by Nelson Mandela is going to be returned to South Africa rather than be auctioned in the US, a minister says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The auction had been due to take place in New York on 28 January until South Africa\u2019s Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa objected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis key belongs to the people of South Africa,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mandela spent 27 years in prison for campaigning to end white minority rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eighteen of those years were spent on Robben Island, an island off Cape Town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1994, he became South Africa\u2019s first black president after the country\u2019s first democratic elections, and he remains a national icon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mr Mthethwa said Guernsey\u2019s auction house had agreed to send the key back to South Africa and also to halt the sale of other items that belonged to Mandela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These included Mandela\u2019s original painting The Lighthouse, Robben Island, as well as the exercise bike he was allowed to use and a prison tennis racquet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe key symbolises South Africa\u2019s painful history whilst also representing triumph of the human spirit over evil,\u201d Mr Mthethwa said in a statement..<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It had been put up for sale by Christo Brand, Mandela\u2019s former prison guard in the notorious jail. The pair had become good friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The auction was to raise funds for a memorial garden and museum around Mandela\u2019s burial site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mandela was released from prison in 1990 as South Africa began to move away from strict racial segregation (apartheid).He served a single term as president, stepping down in 1999.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He died in 2013 aged 95.<\/p>\n\n\n\n