Sutherland reburial
The Sutherland Nine laid to rest in Sutherland’s historic cemetery
01 December 2023 | Videography Ruairi Abrahams and Boikhutso Ntsoko. Video Edit Boikhutso Ntsoko. Photo Je’nine May. Video Production Team Roxanne Harris, Ruairi Abrahams , Boikhutso Ntsoko and Rozanne EngelOn Sunday, 26 November 2023, the sacred remains of nine Khoi and San individuals, known as the Sutherland Nine were finally laid to rest in Sutherland’s historic cemetery.
|gui, Cornelius Abraham, Jannetjie, Klaas Stuurman, Saartje, Totje, Voetje and two children named G!ae and Saa were laid to rest six years after their skeletal remains were discovered during a 2017 audit which revealed they were unethically brought to the university in the 1920s by a medical student.
The university admitted to this wrongdoing, apologised for the injustice, and embarked on a process of restorative justice which included – among other things – engagement with the Abrahams and Stuurman families who share surnames with some of the nine, and the relevant stakeholders.
For more information on the Sutherland Nine Reburial visit: Sutherland.
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Sutherland Reburial
Following an archiving audit of the UCT Human Skeletal Collection in 2017, the university discovered that it had 11 skeletons in its collection that were unethically obtained by the institution in the 1920s. The university has acknowledged this past injustice, which forms part of its history. Nine of these individuals were brought to the university in the 1920s from Sutherland in the Northern Cape. UCT has been working with the community of Sutherland and affected families to return the skeletal remains of these nine individuals to their descendants. On 26 November 2023, remains of the nine individuals were reburied in Sutherland. This process has enabled the university to provide redress and social justice through science.
