A repatriation and restitution office had been established together with the appointment of a manager who commenced duties this month.
The minister of sports, arts and culture, Nathi Mthethwa, has also appointed a repatriation and restitution advisory committee, which would develop criteria, monitor its implementation and advise on the ethical matters related to the restitution and repatriation of human remains.
He said to date the advisory committee has held two meetings to determine how repatriation would be undertaken.
“At the second meeting, the committee resolved that a workshop be hosted to determine the most impactful but less costly repatriation model and implementation plan,” said Ndima.
The workshop further compared two options which include the old repatriation model, which was largely deemed to be an exclusionary approach as it involves individual repatriations of mainly prominent leaders.
“The old model raises difficult but critical questions about the criteria followed to repatriate cadres from foreign countries,” said Ndima.
He said another major shortcoming was that it further contributed to divisions, narratives and perspectives suggesting that some people were important than others. “Added to that is extremely costly process which includes the hiring of private service providers for individual exhumations; the large government delegations and families who travel to the affected countries to negotiate and plan exhumation,” He said the average cost of a commercial flight amounted to more than R40,000 per coffin.
“The amount of financial resources pertaining to a charted flight to fetch the human remains of an individual is not justifiable when the same flight could have transported the bulk of human remains from a particular country,” said Ndima.
Human remains repatriated inside coffins result in a smaller number of human remains that can be accommodated per flight.
Conversely, the proposed new model would focus on a country-to-country approach entailing an inclusive, integrated process which involves exhumation and repatriation of all human remains.
“This approach recognises the contribution of all heroes and heroines of the liberation struggle and will also facilitate closure for most families,” said Ndima,
Government delegations travelling to the specific host countries will be negotiating repatriations of large numbers of human remains instead of one. It would also enlist the services of in-house missing person’s task teams who are already on the payroll of South Africa instead of using consultant specialists. It also proposes that family members should not attend exhumations in affected countries to not only reduce costs but also to avoid complexities.
“It's advisable to only involve the family at a stage where positive identification has been determined. This would avoid exposing families to possible uncertainty, disappointment and trauma,” he said.
The model would afford value for money. Once positively identified the human remains would be placed in coffins and handed over to the president. This would eventually lead to the remains being returned to families in the provinces and municipalities.
“There should be an inclusive participation of all struggle organisations. This would ensure standardised memorials. This would help some of the family members who still struggle to come to terms with their loss,” said Ndima.
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Plans unveiled to bring back remains of struggle veterans who died abroad
Image: Mfundo Mkhize
Plans are being mooted to overhaul the whole repatriation model for the struggle liberation war veterans who died while outside the country during apartheid.
This is according to a presentation made by the acting director-general in the department of sports, arts and culture, Vusithemba Ndima.
He was speaking at the presidential task team meeting in Durban on Tuesday on the work done by the heritage, memorialisation and burial support workstream.
He said after the adoption of national policy on repatriation of human remains and heritage objects in March 2021, the department had made progress.
Bringing the 'Brown Pimpernel' home from his faraway grave
A repatriation and restitution office had been established together with the appointment of a manager who commenced duties this month.
The minister of sports, arts and culture, Nathi Mthethwa, has also appointed a repatriation and restitution advisory committee, which would develop criteria, monitor its implementation and advise on the ethical matters related to the restitution and repatriation of human remains.
He said to date the advisory committee has held two meetings to determine how repatriation would be undertaken.
“At the second meeting, the committee resolved that a workshop be hosted to determine the most impactful but less costly repatriation model and implementation plan,” said Ndima.
The workshop further compared two options which include the old repatriation model, which was largely deemed to be an exclusionary approach as it involves individual repatriations of mainly prominent leaders.
“The old model raises difficult but critical questions about the criteria followed to repatriate cadres from foreign countries,” said Ndima.
He said another major shortcoming was that it further contributed to divisions, narratives and perspectives suggesting that some people were important than others. “Added to that is extremely costly process which includes the hiring of private service providers for individual exhumations; the large government delegations and families who travel to the affected countries to negotiate and plan exhumation,” He said the average cost of a commercial flight amounted to more than R40,000 per coffin.
“The amount of financial resources pertaining to a charted flight to fetch the human remains of an individual is not justifiable when the same flight could have transported the bulk of human remains from a particular country,” said Ndima.
Human remains repatriated inside coffins result in a smaller number of human remains that can be accommodated per flight.
Conversely, the proposed new model would focus on a country-to-country approach entailing an inclusive, integrated process which involves exhumation and repatriation of all human remains.
“This approach recognises the contribution of all heroes and heroines of the liberation struggle and will also facilitate closure for most families,” said Ndima,
Government delegations travelling to the specific host countries will be negotiating repatriations of large numbers of human remains instead of one. It would also enlist the services of in-house missing person’s task teams who are already on the payroll of South Africa instead of using consultant specialists. It also proposes that family members should not attend exhumations in affected countries to not only reduce costs but also to avoid complexities.
“It's advisable to only involve the family at a stage where positive identification has been determined. This would avoid exposing families to possible uncertainty, disappointment and trauma,” he said.
The model would afford value for money. Once positively identified the human remains would be placed in coffins and handed over to the president. This would eventually lead to the remains being returned to families in the provinces and municipalities.
“There should be an inclusive participation of all struggle organisations. This would ensure standardised memorials. This would help some of the family members who still struggle to come to terms with their loss,” said Ndima.
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