'Night in Mandela cell' auction removed from website

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The organisers of an online auction in South Africa which offered the chance to spend a night in Nelson Mandela’s former prison on Robben Island have removed it from their website.

CEO Sleepout has told the BBC the auction has been postponed to a later date this year.

The charity had planned the event to mark the day Mandela, who died in 2013 at the age of 95, would have turned 100 - 18 July.

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.

The URL for the Robben Island competition now redirects to the Liliesleaf farm page. Opening bids start at $11,000 (£8,300), 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.

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