A Campaign on Souvenir S. Africa Ballots : Collectibles: Firms are selling surplus documents from last year’s historic presidential election won by Nelson Mandela.

Capitalizing on the historic end of apartheid and the extension of voting rights to black South Africans, a few business people, including a local company, have begun selling surplus ballots from last year’s presidential election.

At least 1.5 million ballots were auctioned last summer by South African election officials, according to a representative of one of the companies marketing the surplus documents.

“They were going to destroy the leftover ballots, but somebody said, ‘Hey, let’s do something with them since they are so significant,’ ” said Bill Burrola, marketing director of Prospect Holding, an Arizona-based company selling ballots.

The colorful poster-size ballots display head shots of the 19 candidates, including President Nelson Mandela, the once-imprisoned anti-apartheid activist who one year ago became South Africa’s first black chief executive. African Americans revere Mandela as a symbol of black achievement.

The ballots were originally purchased last year by an American, Norris Barker, who was living in South African at the time and teaching American black history. Barker approached the South African government about buying the ballots after the surplus was discovered in a warehouse.

Now, along with another longtime anti-apartheid activist, Muhtadia Rice, the ballots are being marketed primarily in black communities through their Los Angeles-based company, Global Partners. Prospect Holding also acquired its ballots from the company.

Some of Global Partner’s proceeds from sale of the ballots, which range in price from $29.95 to $99.95 for a special black lacquer or mahogany frame, will go to feed hungry children in South Africa and establish a foundation for slain student Amy Biehl, a Fulbright scholar from Orange County who was killed while working against apartheid in Cape Town.

Johannesburg native Gillian Julius, with the assistance of relatives still in South Africa, sells a deluxe limited edition of the ballots for $995. Included in the framed ballots is a photo of Mandela and two specially minted election coins.

Julius said one of her ballots was hand-delivered to Mandela and is on display in his office.

Tracy Underwood, a public relations representative from Toyota Motor Co. in Torrance, purchased one of the ballots last year.

“I love it,” she said. “I have it hanging on my wall at home. It’s my own little piece of history.”

Prospect Holding has been selling its ballots by mail through black-owned newspapers, magazines and groups such as the NAACP. The unmarked ballots, measuring 8 inches by 18 inches, can be bought framed or by the print.

Burrola said that many people who purchase the ballots have marveled at the radical differences between South African and American ballots. The South African ballots include icons such as tribal shields or soccer balls next to a brief description of the party and the candidate.

“It has both historical and political value,” Burrola said. “It was the first all-race election ever in South Africa. It’s a collectible. People say that there are only so many of them and they want an investment in the future.”

Despite brisk sales during Black History Month, Burrola said the ballots have not moved as fast as the company hoped. He said word of mouth, as well as Christmas and Juneteenth--which commemorates June 19, 1865, the day Texas slaves learned they were free--will help boost sales.

For more information on the ballots, call Global Partners at (800) 459-4435 or Prospect Holding Co. at (602) 906-1701. Julius can be reached at (213) 650-5020.