ABOVE: an arial shot of Robben Island, off the coast of South Africa, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. Mandela has succeeded in winning a preliminary injunction against his former lawyer, Ismail Ayob, from selling any more prints under Mandela’s name.

Look around: if you don’t see any works of art signed by Nelson Mandela, you really don’t need to read on. It’s just that the former South African president’s signature has turned up in some places it wasn’t supposed to, including, allegedly, prints of artworks sold by former Mandela lawyer Ismail Ayob. Now, a high court in Johannesburg has granted an injunction on Ayob selling further artworks bearing Mandela’s name.

In 2002, Mandela went back to Robben Island, where he had been imprisoned for nearly 20 years; while there, he drew 21 sketches of the island. Later, the original sketches, and hundreds of lithographic prints, were auctioned off to raise funds for the Mandela HIV/AIDS charities. Mandela now alleges that Ayob was selling more prints bearing forged signatures. Ayob was fired, everything went rather messily public, and has ended up here, with the first round in what are sure to be a lengthy series of legal wrangling. So if anyone tries to sell you a signed Mandela print out of a briefcase on the street, just keep walking, friend.

LINK: The Scotsman > Mandela wins first round in battle over prison art

PS - missed a day yesterday. We’ll make it up to you with a second post today. Check back around 1 PM. ~ADD