Renewed efforts to repatriate remains of Khoi, San & exiles

Developed in collaboration with the departments of Justice, Military Veterans and Defence, the projects will focus on repatriating the remains of indigenous Khoi and San people, as well as South Africans who died in exile during the anti-apartheid struggle.

Speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria on Monday, McKenzie said the upcoming reburial of 58 Khoi and San ancestral remains would take place in the Northern Cape.

“For generations, the remains of South Africa’s First People,  the Khoi, San, and other indigenous groups,  were stolen from their graves. They were treated as objects, displayed in museums, studied in labs, and held in foreign institutions without consent or respect,” McKenzie said.

“We are correcting those injustices now.”

Iziko Museums of South Africa and the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) will lead the reburial process, in consultation with indigenous communities through the Northern Cape Reburial Task Team.

“This reburial is not just about returning the remains to the soil,” McKenzie added. “It is about restoring dignity, fulfilling cultural and spiritual obligations, and healing the deep wounds of dispossession and historical erasure.”

The minister confirmed that negotiations are underway with international institutions, including the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow, to return additional Khoi and San remains.

“We call on all institutions, both here and abroad, to engage in honest and action-driven processes of restitution and repatriation,” McKenzie said.

Returning liberation heroes

The minister also highlighted progress in the country’s Exile Repatriation Programme.

Last September, the remains of 42 former liberation heroes and heroines who died in exile were returned home and received at Waterkloof Air Force Base by President Cyril Ramaphosa, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga, and the families of the deceased.

“Thousands of our people went into exile during the struggle for liberation. Many never came home. Some died unknown, buried in unmarked graves without their families having the chance to mourn,” McKenzie said.

“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.”

The next phase of the five-year repatriation programme will see a joint government delegation travel to Angola, Lesotho, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to inspect cemetery records, conduct grave mapping, and carry out historical research.

McKenzie has urged the South African public, particularly families of former exiles, to provide any information that may assist in identifying individuals who died in exile. An online form is available on the SA Heritage Resources Agency’s website.

“These are not just projects for us. They are acts of healing and justice,” McKenzie said. 

“They affirm the government’s commitment to restore dignity, promote cultural restoration, and confront the painful legacy of apartheid. These initiatives are about rehumanisation. They are spiritual, and, most importantly, they are necessary.”

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