President Cyril Ramaphosa has received cultural heritage objects belonging to the Shilubana family of Limpopo, returned by Switzerland after more than a century.
These sacred items were originally collected in South Africa by Protestant missionary Henri-Alexandre Junod (1863–1934) from Neuchâtel, who lived and worked in the region from 1889 to 1921.
They were kept in the Ethnography Museum of Neuchâtel for over 100 years. Their return marks the first restitution under South Africa’s national policy on repatriation and restitution of heritage objects.
The three artefacts hold deep symbolic and spiritual significance. A carved wooden stick, believed to have belonged to Regent Nkuna Mankhélou around 1850, represents pre-European indigenous art and leadership.
In 2016, descendants of the Nkuna family initiated contact with the museum to request the return of the artefacts, describing them as essential parts of their spiritual heritage. The museum responded positively seeing it as an opportunity not just for restitution, but also for a broader collaboration in cultural research and knowledge exchange.
