The organizers of an online charity auction in South Africa, which offered the chance to spend a night inside a jail cell where Nelson Mandela spent 18 years, have deleted it from their website.
CEO Sleepout had earlier this week advertised the auction on their website, calling for bids from interested persons.
The charity was taking bids, opening at US$250,000, to allow 67 people to stay overnight in the old maximum-security jail in Robben Island, where Mandela was locked away from the rest of the world.
This event was meant to mark the day Mandela would have turned 100 years old.
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 US$11,000, 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.
Mandela’s centenary birthday celebrations are scheduled to be held on 18 July, and former U.S. president Barack Obama is expected to attend.
