CEO SleepOut apologises for 'Robben Island room bid'

6 Jul 2018

Newswatch: Trustees of the CEO SleepOut have apologised in a group statement for any offence caused after its 'Robben Island room bid' came under fire on social media this week.

Robben Island, Cape Town. Image source: , Flickr,

Robben Island, Cape Town. Image source: April Killingsworth, Flickr, CC BY 2.0

The poster that triggered the furore advertises the auction of Nelson Mandela's cell on Robben Island for a night, with bids opening at $250,000 (about R3.4m).

The CEO SleepOut thing is so brazenly in bad taste, there are no words pic.twitter.com/EmAZN0r9oM
— Victor Dlamini (@victordlamini) July 4, 2018

From sleeping outside the JSE in Sandton to sleeping on Mandela Bridge in Braam to (fill in the gap for 2017) to wanting to SleepOut TM in Madiba’s Robben Island cell. In the name of raising awareness on homelessness. Political imprisonment vs homelessness �� #BalanceMePlease https://t.co/wcihxXDJHE
— Tando Ntunja (@tandontunja) July 5, 2018

While Robben Island spokesperson Morongoa Ranaboa told News24 it would "never ever offer anyone Mandela's cell", the CEO SleepOut trustees have said that the initiative was not unauthorised and that it has been in ongoing discussions with Robben Island since early 2017.

The Robben Island edition of The SleepOut, initially planned to coincide with Mandela Day this year, was for the benefit of the Prison-to-College Pipeline Project - an initiative with the aim of integrating prisoners back into their communities.

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