Ministers call for return of African heritage objects

The culture ministers of South Africa and Tanzania have called for the return of artifacts removed from Africa during the colonial era, in a bid to facilitate scholarship and research on the continent.

“Much was taken away from Africa by the colonial oppressors,” says a joint statement from Nathi Mthethwa and Harrison Mwakyembe, who met on 19 September in Dodoma, Tanzania. Heritage objects should be returned or made accessible to Africans who want to study them, they agreed.