Descendants of freedom fighters executed and beheaded by British colonial forces in southern Africa have called on the Natural History Museum in London and the University of Cambridge to assist in locating their ancestors' looted skulls. Zimbabwean descendants of the first chimurenga heroes, who led an uprising against British colonizers in the 1890s, have long believed the museum and university hold several of these skulls.
Eight descendants have now formally requested the institutions collaborate in finding the remains of six of their ancestors. They have also offered to provide DNA samples to aid research. In 2022, the museum and university stated they had not identified any remains in their collections as belonging to the colonial resistance fighters, prompting dismay and disbelief among descendants and Zimbabwean officials.
In letters sent this month, the descendants argued that questions over the skulls' provenance could only be resolved by establishing a taskforce of experts from Zimbabwe and the UK to examine contested remains and archives. "This is not only about the past," the letters state. "It is about whether institutions today are willing to confront colonial violence honestly and repair its enduring harms. Until the remains of our ancestors are accounted for and returned, the suffering continues."
One signatory is a descendant of Chief Chingaira Makoni, who opposed British settlers seizing land for farming and mining in present-day Manicaland province. After battles with Cecil Rhodes' British South Africa Company in 1896, Makoni was captured, executed by firing squad, and beheaded. His skull is believed to be among those later taken to England.
His descendant and current Chief Makoni, Cogen Simbayi Gwasira, said: "We are very aggrieved as the descendants of those ancestors for the dehumanization that took place during that period. We feel that the British, and especially the museums in England, should be honest and return those things that they took. If those remains are not part of us, the notion of subjugation remains in our minds. Because we feel if we are united with our ancestors, then that chapter of colonialism is closed."
The call follows a Guardian freedom of information investigation revealing that UK universities, museums, and councils hold at least 11,856 items of human remains from Africa. The University of Cambridge holds the most with at least 6,223 items, and the Natural History Museum has the second-largest collection with at least 3,375.
Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe demanded a decade ago that the Natural History Museum return the resistance heroes' skulls. The museum's trustees made a formal decision in November 2022 to repatriate all Zimbabwean human remains, but in a letter last week to Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, the all-party parliamentary group for African reparations said "no discernible progress has been made in the three years since that decision."
Dr. Rudo Sithole, former executive director of the International Council of African Museums, said Zimbabwean experts doubt the museum or University of Cambridge has conducted sufficient research to determine if their skull collections include first chimurenga heroes. "Because people long believed that all the chimurenga heroes' remains were in the UK, we are now very worried that not even a single one has been acknowledged to be there," she said.
Gwasira emphasized his people continue to suffer due to the colonial theft of his ancestor's remains, noting that in Shona tradition, ancestral spirits (vadzimu) serve as spiritual conduits to Mwari (God). "Some of our very important ancestors who held the traditional responsibility for taking our grievances to the Lord were killed, murdered, their heads were taken," he said. "We are suffering because until those ancestors return to us then we have no access to the Lord."
Other leaders of the first chimurenga included spirit mediums Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi, hanged in 1898. Sithole, also former director of the Natural History Museum of Zimbabwe, criticized the UK for lagging behind European countries like France and Germany, which have funded provenance research on remains from former African colonies.
A Natural History Museum spokesperson said it is committed to repatriating the 11 Zimbabwean individuals in its collections and awaits confirmation from the Zimbabwean government on next steps. "After extensive research we found no evidence to suggest that the remains are those of named individuals or are associated with particular historical episodes," they stated. "There are no other known or suspected ancestral remains from Zimbabwe held at the museum."
A University of Cambridge spokesperson said the vice-chancellor has written to families to acknowledge their grief and uncertainty, assuring them that the Duckworth Collection does not hold any first chimurenga heroes' remains. A 2024 report noted Cambridge's governing council approved repatriation of the only identified Zimbabwean individual in its African collections, pending a government response.
Source: www.theguardian.com