A South African organisation that was auctioning a night in Nelson Mandela’s prison cell has apologised and removed the event from its website.
The CEO SleepOut raises money for the homeless and had offered the highest bidder a night in the cell on Robben Island, where the anti-apartheid leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner spent 18 years.
Bids had begun at 250,000 US dollars for the “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”.
“So brazenly in bad taste, there are no words,” local photographer Victor Dlamini said on Twitter.
A statement offered “sincere apologies” but the organisation’s website said the Robben Island event has been postponed, not cancelled.
