The remains of Khoi, San and other indigenous ancestors that were taken to Scotland more than a century ago have been returned to South Africa for reburial.

The Witness reports that, according to the Government Communication and Information System, Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie, with the South African Heritage Resources Agency’s Repatriation and Restitution Office, led the initiative to bring the ancestral human remains home from the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow.

The remains were unethically collected in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through grave robbing, illicit trade and unauthorised exhumation.

They were taken for race-based scientific studies without consent and stored in museums during the colonial and apartheid eras.

The repatriation forms part of efforts to restore dignity and address historical injustices under the National Policy on the Repatriation and Restitution of Human Remains.

The milestone follows years of consultation with the Northern Cape Community Reburial Task Team, which represents Khoi and San communities, as well as Iziko Museums of South Africa and the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture.

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