A sculpture of Brett Kebble that the controversial mining magnate apparently commissioned but refused to pay for before he was murdered, is to be auctioned in Cape Town.
It will be auctioned in the hope that the sculptor will recover some of the costs incurred in creating the piece.
Ironically the artwork created by Patience Mbueno is titled Immortality Of Brett Kebble.
Mbueno was chosen as a finalist in the 2003 Brett Kebble Art Awards for his bust of former president Nelson Mandela.
Mbueno said that he and Kebble chatted about creating a bust of the business man at a cocktail function to celebrate the winners. He believed they had a verbal agreement.
He said he spent seven months creating a hydrostone bust of Kebble, which cost him R25 000. Hydrostone is a type of chemical stone.
But when he requested the remaining R70 000 to complete the work, which involved bronzing it, he was told there had been a misunderstanding.
Mbueno argued that this was not so and that Kebble had liked the idea of a bust of himself. "He even gave me his contact details."
Mbueno wrote a poem to go with the bust. Some of the lines read: "There will be a day when time will wipe out all of us... wipe out the memory of us... but the sculpture will stand up and make a statement about Mr Brett Kebble".
When he tried to contact Kebble, he was referred to the co-ordinators of the Kebble Arts Awards, who informed him in a letter that there had been a misunderstanding. Mbueno then hired a lawyer to try to recover his expenses.
He also tried to be listed as a creditor of Kebble's insolvent estate which was finally sequestrated in the Cape High Court last month. A number of Kebble's assets including holiday homes and luxury boats have been auctioned.
When Kebble's estate was sequestrated on June 13, creditors argued that the estate was "hopelessly insolvent", with liabilities exceeding assets by at least R446 million. At the hearing, the executor did not oppose the application.
Kebble was gunned down in his car in Johannesburg last September.
The bust will be auctioned on July 23 by Julius Buchinsky at the Art and Media Access Centre in Harrington Street. There is no reserve price.