As part of an initiative dedicated to remembrance, restorative justice, and the dignified return of South African ancestors, government intends to rebury 58 indigenous Khoi and San ancestral remains in the Northern Cape.
This is being done in full consultation with the communities concerned. The process is led by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture’s implementing partners -- Iziko South African Museum and the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA).
“For generations, the remains of South Africa’s first people, the Khoi and San and other indigenous groups were stolen from their graves. These ancestors were treated as objects, they were displayed in museums, studied in labs and held in foreign institutions, without consent or respect.
“We are correcting those injustices now, the key actions that we will be taking is the reburial of 58 ancestral remains, originating from the Northern Cape,” Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie said on Monday in Pretoria during a media briefing.
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The reburial is being guided by the Northern Cape Reburial Task Team representing indigenous communities.
“This reburial is not just about returning the remains to the soil. It is about restoring dignity and fulfilling cultural and spiritual obligations. It is about healing the deep wounds of the dispossession and most importantly, historical erasure,” the Minister said.
Negotiations with international institutions regarding the repatriation of additional Khoi and San remains are underway. They include the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow.
“Our people are all over the world. We call on all institutions, both here and abroad, to engage in honest and active driven processes of restitution and repatriation,” the Minister said.
Bringing home fallen heroes and heroines
Meanwhile, the South African public has been encouraged to provide information that may aid in identifying individuals who died in exile.
As government implements Phase 2 of the exile repatriation project, the Minister made a public appeal for assistance from families, comrades, and the general public to provide information.
“Thousands of our people went into exile during the struggle for our liberation, many never came home, some died unknown buried in unmarked graves without their families having a chance to mourn.
“The exile repatriation project is about bringing our heroes home; it is a moral duty and a national responsibility. these were people who gave everything for our liberation. We owe their families a great debt of gratitude,” he said.
This repatriation programme forms part of a broader national commitment to honour those who sacrificed their lives in the fight for freedom, ensuring that they are returned to their homeland with the dignity and respect they so rightfully deserve.
The initiative is being undertaken in close collaboration with regional governments, historians, and affected communities to ensure a respectful and culturally appropriate process.
“These are just not projects for us, they are acts of healing, justice and affirm government’s commitment to restore dignity, promote cultural restoration and confront the painful legacy of apartheid. These initiatives are about rehumanisation, they are spiritual but mostly importantly they are necessary,” the Minister said.
In his State of the Nation Address in February 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa made a significant commitment to the nation, particularly to the families of those who lost loved ones in exile, by pledging to exhume and repatriate the mortal remains of prominent liberation struggle figures.
This presidential commitment highlighted a comprehensive and inclusive approach to repatriation, aligned with the National Policy on the Repatriation and Restitution of Human Remains and Heritage Objects.
The adoption and subsequent Cabinet endorsement of the National Policy in 2021 has created an enabling environment for the allocation of necessary resources and the implementation of structured processes.
“These processes include the identification and exhumation of graves, and the dignified repatriation of the remains of liberation struggle veterans and other individuals who died in exile, both in neighbouring countries and further abroad,” the Minister said.
The Implementation Plan adopts a phased, country-to-country approach, beginning with stakeholder consultations at the individual, family, and community levels, and extending to national and international coordination.
Each phase culminates in the formal handover, reburial, and memorialisation of the repatriated individuals.
The Exile Repatriation Project is led by the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, in close partnership with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, and the Department of Defence and Military Veterans.
The Project is implemented by the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA), the Missing Persons Task Team (MPTT) with the support of the Freedom Park and the National Heritage Council.
The public can obtain the repatriation form via https://www.sahris.org.za/form/sahra-form-human-remains-rro. - SAnews.gov.za
