Media zoom in on Madiba case
2005-05-31 09:59
Johannesburg - A large media contingent gathered outside the Johannesburg High Court on Tuesday ahead of a lawsuit launched by former president Nelson Mandela.
Two rows of seats in the court were reserved for national and foreign journalists.
The SABC will make delayed broadcasts of parts of the hearing after a court ruling last week that proceedings may be televised.
Mandela wants his former lawyer Ismail Ayob and an art publisher, Ross Calder, to stop selling fake artworks portraying his years in prison.
He also wants the court to remove Ayob and his wife Zamila from their positions in the trust associated with him, and is demanding an audited account of the trust and the artwork project.
Unaware of company's existence
The former president claims he was tricked into signing a contract with Tinancier, a company owned by Ayob, and wants it to be set aside.
The contract, signed in 2001, transfers Mandela's intellectual copyright to the company - but Mandela claims he was made aware of Tinancier's existence only last month.
Mandela, who spent 27 years in jail, decided to collaborate with an artist to produce limited-edition paintings which he signed.
The project was reportedly aimed at raising funds for charities bearing Mandela's name. The works were snapped up overseas by celebrity buyers.
Mandela stopped signing the artworks soon after, in the hope that all the copies would be exhausted, but it emerged that Calder and Ayob had reproduced an unknown number of copies.
- SAPA