‘Dignity restored’: Remains of 63 Khoisan people reburied in South Africa

By AFP

South Africa on Monday reburied the remains of 63 Khoisan people, among southern Africa’s oldest indigenous communities, some of whose bodies were shipped to European museums over a century ago.

The remains were laid to rest at a historic monument in Steinkopf, in the Northern Cape province, during a ceremony attended by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Rows of freshly dug graves lined the site as the wooden coffins, some draped in traditional clothing, were laid side by side.

Traditional leaders offered prayers, marking a farewell rooted in ritual.

“This is not merely a burial. It is a restoration of dignity long denied,” one of the leaders, James Mapanga, said.

Six of the remains were repatriated from the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, while the others had been held at South Africa’s Iziko Museums.

South African authorities said the remains returned from Glasgow were exhumed from graves between 1868 and 1924. The university also returned two plaster face casts and a smoking pipe excavated from a burial ground.

“It is about acknowledging that the past, no matter how painful, must be addressed with honesty and courage to complete the healing process,” Ramaphosa said.

In one of colonialism’s darkest episodes, a Khoisan named Sarah Baartman was taken to Europe in the early 19th century by a British doctor and paraded as an anatomical freak — the “Hottentot Venus,” who people could see and touch for a fee.

The Khoisan have long sought recognition as South Africa’s first indigenous people.