Sutherland reburial
UCT hosts send-off for the Sutherland Nine at the Faculty of Health Sciences
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 EngelThe University of Cape Town (UCT) hosted a final send-off for the Sutherland Nine at the Faculty of Health Sciences on Friday, 24 November 2023.
The send-off included significant spiritual, cultural and historical rituals, an unveiling of a garden of remembrance as a tribute to the nine individuals, as well as a renaming ceremony and private wrapping of the sacred remains. It also kicked off a three-day repatriation process that ended with a special reburial ceremony in Sutherland on Sunday, 26 November.
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.
