JOHANNESBURG: For rich corporate executives, fine food, expensive wine and five-star hotels come as standard. But one discerning top boss with a spare $300,000 (260,000 euros) will give up creature comforts for a night in the cramped prison cell that was Nelson Mandela’s home for 18 years.

That is according to organisers of the annual CEO sleepout, an initiative which raises money for various charities.

South Africa’s first democratic, black president was kept on South Africa’s Robben Island prison off Cape Town for much of his 27-year incarceration. A night in his iconic 8-foot by 7-foot (2.4 metres by 2.1 metres) concrete cell will now be auctioned for charity to mark the centenary of prisoner number 46664’s birthday.

“The suggestion was to auction the cell to raise money to fund the Prison-to-College Pipeline ... educating incarcerated people in South Africa,” said Liane McGowan, spokeswoman for the CEO SleepOut South Africa adding that details of when the one night only fundraiser will take place, had not been finalised.

Published in Dawn, July 5th, 2018