Dylan Bettencourt
The World Boxing Council’s Championship belt that icon Sugar Ray Leonard gave Nelson Mandela has been stolen.
The WBC belt was one of the more important artefacts on display at the Mandela House Museum in Soweto.
Museum staff members said when they arrived at work on 1 July they noticed the locks had been tampered with.
When they managed to get into the house, they saw that the belt had been stolen, according to eNCA.
The staff reported the crime to the Orlando police station with officers investigating the scene later that day.
No arrests have been made thus far.
American Sugar Ray Leonard, one of the greatest boxers of all time, gifted the belt to the former South African president.
Mandela had an amateur career in the sport and took great pride in the belt.
Tour guide Khosi Zikalala told eNCA that the belt was important, and not only to Mandela.
“The belt is also important to tourist guides because when we tour we do not miss Mandela House without telling the tourists that Mandela was an amateur boxer,” he said.
“The belt meant a lot to Nelson Mandela and to the nation as well because it was a gift from Sugar Ray Leonard and Mandela.”
The crime has raised safety concerns amongst the tour guides who often bring international guests to the town to see where Mandela lived for several years during his fight against apartheid.
Image source: @FreeStateCentralNews
