South Africa is stepping up efforts to repatriate the remains of its citizens who were taken abroad during the colonial era and those who died in exile during the anti-apartheid struggle, the government announced on Monday.
Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie told a press briefing that the state was actively engaging with foreign agencies to ensure the return of indigenous remains, including those of the KhoiSan people, who are considered to be some of the country’s oldest inhabitants.
“These are acts of justice, remembrance and healing,” McKenzie said. “They reaffirm our government’s commitment to restoring dignity, promoting cultural restoration and confronting the painful legacy of colonialism and apartheid.”
The government is also sending teams to neighbouring countries such as Angola and Zimbabwe to find South Africans who died in exile during the liberation movement. McKenzie said a mission to Angola would soon be underway to trace the remains of 400 people thought to have died at the time.
In a broader repatriation effort, McKenzie announced a plan to rebury the remains of 58 indigenous South Africans who were exhumed without their families’ permission and taken to foreign museums and institutions for scientific study.
“They were put on display in museums, studied in laboratories and held abroad without dignity or respect,” he said. “We are correcting these historical injustices. We call on all institutions, both in South Africa and abroad, to engage honestly and resolutely in reparations.”
He pointed to previous repatriation successes, including the 2012 return of KhoiSan couple Klaas and Trooi Pienaar, who were exhumed without permission in 1909 and sent to Austria, and the 2002 return of Sarah Baartman, whose remains were stored in France for nearly two centuries after being exploited in human exhibitions in Europe.
“Thousands of people fled the country during apartheid to fight for freedom,” McKenzie added. “Many never returned. Some died in exile, buried in unmarked graves, denied the dignity of mourning by their families.”
More than 1,000 South African anti-apartheid activists died in exile in Africa, Europe and Cuba, according to government officials. In September last year, the remains of 42 were repatriated as part of efforts to honor their legacy.
The government is also in talks with an Australian mine-clearing company to gain access to former conflict zones in Angola, where many of those killed in the civil war that ended in 2002 may be buried.