In the suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa, the championship belt of the World Boxing Council, which belonged to the former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, was stolen from the museum.
This is reported by the Associated Press.
It was one of many artifacts in the Mandela National Museum, the main tourist attraction in the city.
This belt was given to Nelson Mandela by American boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard during one of his visits to South Africa.
As a former non-professional boxer, Mandela held the belt in high esteem. The artifact was prominently displayed in a museum in the home where the South African president once lived in the Johannesburg suburb of Soweto.
The theft was reported to the police on July 1. According to law enforcement officials, thieves broke into the museum and stole a belt. No suspects have been arrested and police have appealed to the public to come forward with any information related to the theft of the artifact.
- Nelson Mandela was the first president of the Republic of South Africa to be elected in a fully democratic, non-rigged election. Before his presidency, he was a prominent fighter against apartheid and the leader of the African National Congress (ANC). He was imprisoned for 27 years for participating in the underground armed struggle. Armed resistance was the only effective means at the time — Mandela later became a staunch supporter of the peaceful path. During this 27-year imprisonment, Mandela became the most famous figure in the struggle against South African apartheid. He died in 2013 at the age of 95.
- The Nelson Mandela Museum is one of the main attractions on Vilakazi Street, the only street in the world where two Nobel Laureates lived, Nelson Mandela and anti-apartheid activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu.