A collection of World Cup paintings by school children in Mvezo, the remote Eastern Cape village where Nelson Mandela was born, will be displayed in city halls and government buildings in 32 countries.
The countries include the United States, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Britain, Paraguay, and Argentina. The Sunday Times reported yesterday that a banking group had offered R7-million for a painting of the South African flag.
World soccer governing body Fifa has shown an interest in acquiring some of the collection to showcase at its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.
The set of 32 paintings of flags of countries that took part in the tournament and Mandela's signature, is expected to fetch more than R50-million.
Project co-ordinator and artist Athol Moult said yesterday he was inundated with requests by participating countries for exhibitions.
The collection is on display at the Mvezo-Mandela Museum in Mvezo. Several celebrities have splashed out on limited-edition prints of the artwork. Moult said only 210 canvass prints were made and were for sale at R25000 each, and 2010 smaller paper prints were selling for R8000 each.
"The money generated from this project will be invested in development projects in Mvezo, such as a new clinic, running water, better roads and basic infrastructure," said Moult.
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