By AFP

CAPE TOWN: South Africa has returned ancestral human remains and a centuries-old stone carving to Zimbabwe, more than 100 years after they were taken during the colonial era.

The repatriation ceremony took place on Tuesday at a Cape Town museum, where officials from both countries gathered as eight coffins draped in the Zimbabwean flag were prepared for return.

The human remains had been unethically exhumed for research purposes, according to officials, though little else is known about them. Once returned to Zimbabwe, they will undergo further study before being laid to rest “where they belong”, said Zimbabwean government representative Reverend Paul Damasane.

The soapstone carving depicts the Zimbabwe bird, the country’s sacred national emblem. Officials said it was the first of several such carvings looted from the ancient Great Zimbabwe complex, built between the 11th and 13th centuries.

A British explorer removed the sculpture from its pedestal in the late 19th century and sold it to Cecil John Rhodes, who served as prime minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896.

“Nearly 140 years since the first one was taken and sold to Cecil John Rhodes, that very same statue is finally making its journey home,” South Africa’s culture ministry said.

Other Zimbabwe bird carvings held in South Africa were returned in 1981, the year after Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain.

The original carvings stand approximately 33 centimetres in height and were originally mounted on stone columns more than a metre high. The Zimbabwe bird appears on the country’s banknotes, coins and national flag, and is considered sacred due to the belief that it carries a protective spirit.

The handover forms part of a global movement to repatriate artefacts looted from African countries during colonial rule.