In a ceremony that observers called long overdue, South Africa formally handed over dozens of stolen cultural artefacts and human remains to Zimbabwe, bringing back to Harare objects that had been held in South African museums for decades — some dating to the colonial era, others tied to the violent extraction of Black African labour and dignity under apartheid.
The items included traditional regalia, carved wooden sculptures, ceremonial objects, and the skeletal remains of individuals believed to have been taken from southern African territories during periods of colonial rule and racial subjugation. Their return was the result of three years of diplomatic negotiations and was witnessed by officials from both governments, traditional leaders, and representatives of civil society organisations that had long campaigned for repatriation.
Zimbabwe’s minister of information said the return was “a step toward healing” but emphasised that it represented only a fraction of the cultural property still held in institutions abroad. He called on European museums — particularly in Britain, Germany, and Belgium — to follow South Africa’s example and open serious conversations about their own African collections.
A Continental Reckoning
South Africa’s restitution to Zimbabwe fits into a broader, continent-wide reckoning with the legacy of colonial-era cultural theft. Nigeria has pursued the return of Benin Bronzes held in British and German institutions, with some pieces already returned and others under negotiation. Ethiopia has sought the repatriation of artefacts taken during the 1868 British expedition to Addis Ababa. Kenya has demanded the return of manuscripts and cultural objects taken during the colonial period.
What distinguishes the South Africa-Zimbabwe handover is its simultaneous coverage of human remains — a dimension of the restitution debate that has proven particularly complex and emotionally charged. For many African communities, ancestral remains are not merely historical specimens but active presences whose proper burial is a spiritual and moral obligation.
The Apartheid Connection
The South Africa case is complicated by the fact that the objects were not only taken during the colonial period but also accumulated, displayed, and preserved under apartheid — a system that institutionalised the very racial hierarchies that justified the theft of African cultural property in the first place. Post-apartheid South Africa has been wrestling with how to address the legacies of that period.
The handover was not without controversy within South Africa itself. Some museum professionals and heritage scholars argued that proper provenance research had not been completed for all the items, raising questions about whether some objects being returned might not have been originally from Zimbabwe at all.
A Precedent That Matters
For Zimbabwe, the return is significant at a moment when the country is grappling with multiple crises: an economy struggling under US dollar shortages, a political system where President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s long-promised democratic opening has failed to materialise, and a diaspora community that continues to grow as educated Zimbabweans seek opportunity elsewhere.
The hope among regional cultural advocates is that the South Africa gesture creates momentum. Several countries are understood to be in quiet discussions about their own repatriation claims, and the expectation is that if bilateral negotiations produce results, multilateral pressure on major museum institutions will intensify.