The Zimbabwean government is ready to act and is forming a team comprising the ministries of Interior and Cultural Heritage, Finance and Economic Affairs, and Foreign Affairs to coordinate the process of preparing and mobilizing resources, Minister Kazembe Kazembe told Efe news agency.

Kazembe added that Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa advocated for the repatriation of the remains of Zimbabwean fighters, considered "heroes" in the country, and demanded "compensation from the British government."

According to the minister, there is confirmation that the remains of 11 anti-colonial fighters are in the Natural History Museum in London, while the remains of two others are in the Duckworth Laboratory of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge, mainly skulls.

The British government, according to Kazembe, has agreed to hand over the remains stored in London, but has yet to inform the Zimbabwean government of the date on which this will happen.

"A negotiation process is underway between the governments of Great Britain and Zimbabwe regarding the reparations process and, once concluded, it will be announced publicly," the minister said.

Among the remains to be repatriated to Zimbabwe are believed to be the bones of, for example, the Shona people's spiritual leader Ambuya Nehanda Nyakasikana (1840-1890) and the traditional chiefs Chinengundu Mashayamombe and Makoni Chingaira, among others.

These historical figures participated in the so-called First Chimurenga War or Second Matabele War, between 1896 and 1897, a great popular uprising in which the Matabele and Shona peoples revolted against the colonial authorities of the British South Africa Company (BSAC), to which London granted commercial and administrative rights in Southern and Central Africa, in the territory that today comprises Zimbabwe and Zambia.

After the conflict, the remains of these fighters were taken to Europe by colonial forces as trophies. Minister Kazembe announced the repatriation of the remains of these anti-colonial fighters one day before Zimbabwe celebrated Heroes' Day, a national holiday honoring those who died fighting for the country's independence.

In November 2024, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa demanded an apology and reparations for the United Kingdom's colonial wrongs committed before the country's independence in 1980.

This demand was made public in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, during the launch of an initiative to study the abuses of that period and promote legal action to secure compensation.

Picture: © 2019 Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi