According to police, a World Boxing Council (WBC) championship belt belonging to former South African President Nelson Mandela was stolen from a museum in Soweto.
During one of his visits to South Africa, American boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard presented the belt to Nelson Mandela.
It was one of many items on display at the Nelson Mandela National Museum, a popular tourist destination for both domestic and international visitors.
Nelson Mandela, a former amateur boxer, revered the belt prominently displayed in the museum, which was found in a house where he lived in Soweto, west of Johannesburg.
The museum is one of the main attractions on Vilakazi Street, the only street in the world to have two Nobel laureates among its former residents. Nelson Mandela and the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an iconic figure in the struggle against apartheid, both lived on the street.
According to police, the belt was stolen when thieves broke into the museum, commonly known as Mandela House, and the theft was reported to police on 1 July.
No suspects have been arrested and police are appealing for any information about the theft, said police spokesperson Dimakatso Sello.
Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first democratically elected leader in 1994 after spending 27 years in prison for his fight against apartheid, the country’s brutal system of white minority rule from 1948 to 1994.
