By Staff Reporter
HARARE – The British Embassy in Harare has confirmed that discussions between Harare and London over the return of the skulls of Mbuya Nehanda, Sekuru Kaguvi and other Chimurenga heroes actually began in December last year.
Over the Heroes Holiday President Robert Mugabe lashed out at Britain for having kept the heads of some of the First Chimurenga heroes and heroines, including Mbuya Nehanda, Sekuru Kaguvi, Chingaira Makoni, Chinengundu Mashayamombe, Mapondera, Mashonganyika and Chitekedza Chiwashira.
“We are told that skulls of our people, our leaders, are being displayed in a British museum and they are inviting us to repatriate them. We will repatriate them, but with bitterness, questioning the rationale behind decapitating them,” Mugabe was quoted as saying.
The British Embassy in an emailed response to the state owned Herald newspaper is quoting as saying “The UK has since invited Zimbabwe to appoint technical experts to meet their museum counterparts in London to discuss some remains of Zimbabwean origin.”
“We await the appointment of the required Zimbabwean experts to take this forward. We welcome the President’s statement which shows the importance of following a due process when handling sensitive museum collections.”
“It is not, however, yet clear whether the remains are related to the events, places or people referred to in the President’s speech,” the British Embassy is quoted saying.
Mugabe meanwhile also said the idea of keeping decapitated heads as war trophies in this day and age in “national history museum must rank among the highest form of racist moral decadence, sadism, and human insensitivity”.
“Once all the necessary process have been completed for the return of these illicitly removed remains of our ancestors, it is our wish, in consultation with our traditional leaders, that they be given lasting rest, at sacred shrines on the very land against whose occupation they bravery fought,” he said.
National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe (NMMZ) executive director Dr Godfrey Mahachi said discussions were on-going between Zimbabwean and British authorities over the matter.
“Of course, Britain has confirmed that they are holding our human remains that got into the British museums sometime soon after the First Chimurenga,” he said.
“The process that is now taking place is about how we are going to handle the repatriation. This is why there is an invitation for Zimbabwe to constitute a team to discuss with British authorities.
Mr Mahachi said the situation would be clear after the meetings.
“We will only be able to get the full details after those discussions about how many are the remains, when and under what circumstances they were taken to the UK,” he said.
“That will enable us to reconstruct whose remains they are using our own history as well. What we want is to repatriate heroes that we are able to identify.”
