House where Nelson Mandela's gun 'buried' up for auction
A suburban house thought to have been built over the spot where Nelson Mandela buried the first weapon of the African National Congress's armed resistance will go up for auction on Thursday amid fears that bounty hunters could buy it and unearth the gun to sell abroad.
The sale of 5 George Avenue in Rivonia, northern Johannesburg, has attracted attention from around the world which is expected to send the three-bedroom property's original asking price of 3 million rand (£435,000) spiralling.
The Makarov pistol thought to lie underneath it was given to Mr Mandela by an Ethiopian colonel training him for the military campaign the ANC were to launch against the apartheid government.
The weapon is now valued at 22m rand (£1.8m) but is also known to be of considerable sentimental value to the ailing 92-year-old statesman, who has asked friends whether it has been found.
Mr Mandela buried the pistol in July 1962 in the grounds of Liliesleaf Farm, where he had been living in disguise as a houseboy and where he was subsequently arrested. He spent the next 27 years in jail before being released to become South Africa's first black president in 1994....