Finally, some good NFT news. A non-fungible token has sold for R1.9 million in an auction to raise money for a museum that documents the anti-apartheid struggle of South Africa. The NFT was created from the original arrest warrant issued in 1961 against Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid activist that went on to become SA’s first democratically elected black president in 1994.

The money raised will go towards keeping the lights on at the Liliesleaf Museum Heritage site. The museum has been struggling to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, and eventually had to close its doors indefinitely in September last year.

NFTs used for good

The original document gained a place in the museum archives in the early 2000s. And that is where it will stay. Because, as we should all know by now, buying the NFT says nothing about the ownership of the actual item. You just get a link. Here, however, the NFT owner will have “exclusive access to the original document at Liliesleaf Museum”.

This is the second NFT auctioned for the museum. Last year, following the auction of an NFT of Oliver Tambo’s pen gun, the museum received R720,000. That’s according to Ahren Posthumus, CEO of NFT marketplace Momint where the NFT was auctioned.

The online buyer of the latest NFT is based in the United Arab Emirates.

The Liliesleaf farm served as a secret headquarters for members of the ANC, SACP, Umkhonto we Sizwe, and the Congress Alliance between 1961 and 1963; until it was shut down during a raid by police in 1963.

Source: IOL