[ Home ] [ Speeches & statements ]

Following the return and subsequent burial of the remains of the African warrior, "El Negro", in Botswana, after having been removed by French soldiers 170 years ago, the question regarding the return of Saartje Baartman has once again been raised.

The South African government first committed itself to ensure the return of the remains of Saartje Baartman nearly five years ago. Since then it has been in constant negotiations with the French museum and government authorities.

I announced our intention to have the remains of Ms Baartman returned in 1995, when I committed my Department to have her remains returned in order "to be given a proper and dignified burial in the country of her birth". Negotiations on behalf of the South African government have since been conducted by Professor Phillip Tobias, world renowned anthropologist and present Director of the Sterkfontein Research Unit of the University of the Witwatersrand.

Saartje Baartman (1789-1816) was a tragic victim of the era of colonialism. Born near the Gamtoos River in the Eastern Cape in 1789, of South African Khoisan extraction, she was taken to England in 1810, in order for her physical characteristics to be exhibited. In 1814, she was taken from England to France where she died on New Year's day 1816. Her bodily remains, or at any rate, part of them, have remained in Paris until this day where they are housed in the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle.

The remains referred to include the complete skeleton, the complete death-cast of her body, and certain preserved organs: soft tissue remains of the brain and genitals. Conflicting reports exist on the whereabouts of the brain and the genitals, with indications that the two jars in which it was contained might have gone lost over time.

Our view within Government and also that among academics, has always been that, as she was a known-in-life person and a symbol of an era of oppression and colonialism, her remains should be repatriated to South Africa, without any imputation that either England or France, the French Government, the French people or scholars are to be blamed for the parlous treatment which she received in Europe between 1810 and 1815.

Prof. Tobias's negotiating partner on behalf of the French has been Prof. Henry de Lumley, former Director of the Musee de lHomme and of the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle, who in that capacity was the custodian of the surviving remains of Saartje Baartman.

After protracted negotiations over a period of three years between Professors Tobias and de Lumley, the matter has reached an extremely sensitive and difficult stage. After having been briefed by Prof. Tobias on the problems encountered during his negotiations with de Lumley, I have indicated my wish, through consultation with President Mbeki, to explore the possibility of direct and high level negotiations with the French Government.

Throughout the process Prof. Tobias was of opinion that the request for the return of the remains of Saartje Baartman was a special one. She was a known-in-life person, not somebody anonymous whose remains were removed from South Africa. Also, descendants of the Baartman family are still living in South Africa. However, during this process of negotiations, Prof. Tobias, on behalf of the South African government, at the same time also made clear that this request would not be the forerunner of similar requests for repatriation, despite the fact that there are literally thousands of skulls, skeletons and cultural objects in museums in Europe, North America and Australasia, which were also removed during colonial times. If all these objects were to be repatriated to South Africa, it would be impossible for them to be properly accommodated, curated and handled within existing facilities.

It became clear that the negotiations with the French museologist were not to be easy, for both legal and bureaucratic reasons. De Lumley was of the opinion that it was his duty to safeguard the conservation and integrity of the collections entrusted to the Museum, and that, under French law, items in these collections are normally regarded as inalienable. He further held the view that he did not have the legal powers to accede to the request of the South African government. It would, according to de Lumley, be necessary for a law to be passed by the French Parliament to allow, on an exceptional basis, for the remains of Ms Baartman to be returned to South Africa. In short, de Lumley would agree to repatriation only if so instructed by the French government.

With this being the prevailing view, and when no further response was received from de Lumley, it became clear to Prof. Tobias that the only option left was a request from the South African government directly to the French government. I was informed accordingly, and intend having a discussion with the President on this matter.

The South African government and academics concerned, including Prof. Tobias, remain fully committed to having the remains of Ms Baartman returned to the country of her birth. Not only has she become a symbol of the excesses to which inhumanity was carried during the colonial and imperialist era, but also of the humiliation suffered by indigenous people in general, and more particularly, those in South Africa.

Issued by the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, 10 October 2000