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Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie at the handover of instruments and refurbishments to Mitchells Plain music academy in Cape Town on October 15, 2024.
Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Gayton McKenzie has announced an implementation plan for the collective repatriation of the remains of South African exiles, focusing on SADC countries.
McKenzie briefed the media in Pretoria, at the launch of phase two of government’s repatriation efforts to bring back the remains of South African exiles as well as those of Khoi and San being held outside of the country.
Last year, the government worked to bring back the remains of 49 former freedom fighters. McKenzie says this initiative will serve as a continuation of those efforts.
[Watch]:Minister Gayton Mckenzie hosts press briefing on Repatriation of Ancestral and Exile Remains
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) June 9, 2025
He says it is a moral duty to restore dignity and fix injustices of the past.
“This program is phase two. Thousands of our people went into exile during the liberation struggle. Many never came home. Some died unknown, buried in iron lockers, without their families having the chance to mourn. Why does this matter? The exile repatriation project is about bringing our freedom fighters home.”
Mckenzie has announced the reburial of 58 Khoi and San ancestral remains originating from the Northern Cape.
They are in talks with institutions across the globe to ensure the return of Khoi and San remains to their ancestral home.
“For generations, the remains of South Africa’s first people, the Khoisan and other indigenous groups, were stolen from their graves. These ancestors were treated like objects. They were displayed in museums, studied in labs and held in foreign institutions without consent or respect. We are correcting those injustices now.”
Repatriating SA ancestors and liberation heroes
