Former Nelson Mandela Children's Fund head Jeremy Ractliffe has apologised and resigned from the board of trustees of the organisation following his failure to declare three uncut diamonds donated by British super model Naomi Campbell in 1997.
Campbell testified at the trial of former Libarian president Charles Taylor that she gave the "dirty-looking stones" to Ractliffe, then chief executive of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, as a donation to the charity in 1997.
She said she phoned him a year later to ask about the diamonds, and he said he still had them.
Ractliffe, who recently handed the diamonds to police, said silence on the matter for 13 years was a regrettable omission.
He did not inform the charity's chief executive, chairman and the rest of the Board of Trustees about the diamonds until Campbell revealed this in her testimony.
Nelson Mandela Children's Fund spokesman Oupa Ngwenya said the trust accepted his apology and resignation from the board of trustees and as a board member of the US affiliate of the NMCF.
Hawks spokesman Musa Zondi said police were still investigating the matter.
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