Mandela aide resigns in Naomi Campbell fallout

The fallout from Naomi Campbell's testimony at the war crimes trial of Charles Taylor has resulted in Jeremy Ractliffe, one of former President Mandela's long-serving aides, resigning from the board of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund (NMCF).

Much of Campbell's testimony at The Hague earlier this month was refuted by two key witnesses, her former agent Carole White and the actress Mia Farrow.

But one thing there was no disagreement about was the supermodel's account of what happened next to the bag of uncut diamonds - or "dirty-looking stones", as she famously described them - presented to her following the 1997 gala dinner in South Africa at which she sat next to Taylor, then President of Liberia.

According to Campbell, she handed the diamonds - the very next day - to Jeremy Ractliffe so that they might benefit the Mandela children's fund, which Ratcliffe then ran.

The first reaction of the NMCF to Campbell's testimony at The Hague on August 5 was that they knew nothing about any diamonds. Hours later, Ractliffe, no longer the head of the charity but still a board member, issued a statement admitting that he had received the gems from Campbell but had not passed them on to the charity.

Not wishing to incriminate the charity or embarrass Mandela, he simply held on the uncut diamonds and, indeed, they were still in a safe at his home, 13 years later. Crucially, he had never told the police he was holding them.

Because the possession of uncut diamonds is illegal in South Africa, leaving him open to prosecution, Ractliffe, now 74, had little option but to resign from the charity's board.

He says he wishes now that he had told the other board members and Nelson Mandela himself about Campbell's "donation" so that they might have dealt with the gems in a "better and lawful" way.

A statement released by the Fund yesterday read: "Mr Ractliffe has apologised to the Chairperson, Chief Executive Officer, the board and the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund (NMCF) for the anxiety and possible reputational risk his conduct may have caused.

"For these reasons, he considers it correct and proper for him not to make himself available for re-election as a trustee at the forthcoming annual general meeting of NMCF on 27 August. Mr Ractliffe has also undertaken to resign as a board member of the USA affiliate of the NMCF with immediate effect."

While there has clearly been anger at the Fund that Ractliffe kept the donation of the diamonds secret - even if it was done in good faith - there is also sympathy for him in some quarters because he was clearly put in an awkward position by the supermodel.

He made it clear to Campbell when she first showed him the uncut diamonds that they were of no use to the Fund because they were illegal. But he feared what would happen to Campbell if she was discovered by the authorities to have the gems in her possession. "In the end I decided I should just keep them," he said in his statement of August 5.

Campbell has yet to comment on Ractliffe's resignation. ·