SA govt to act in Saartje Baartman saga

The gloves are finally coming off in South Africa's diplomatic war with France over the remains of Eastern Cape Khoisan icon Saartje Baartman. Tanya Jonker reports.

FOR almost 200 years, Saartje Baartman has been an object.

An object of scientific study, supposedly, but more often than not an object of ridicule and of ethnocentric prejudice.

Against all odds, this humiliation continues to this day, with French museum authorities -- where Saartje's remains are on exhibit -- refusing to allow her repatriation for burial.

Saartje was born and raised in the Gamtoos River valley in 1789. She was "discovered" by European travellers who, astounded by her decidedly non-European physical characteristics, decided to take her on board and ship her back to the continent as a travelling exhibit.

She was taken to England, and later to France, where for six years she was the subject of gawk shows and pseudo-scientific inquiries. Since her death in 1816, Saartje's remains have been housed at the Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris.

The South African government, stung by growing public indignation at her undignified fate, have been negotiating with French diplomats since 1995 to bring her back for burial -- without success.

The bulk of these negotiations have been led by celebrated South African anthropologist Professor Phillip Tobias, who dealt directly with Professor Henry de Lumley, former director of the Musée de l'Homme and of the Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle, who in that capacity was the official custodian of Saartje's remains.

For almost three years, Tobias delicately lobbied the French officials to allow her to be brought home.

Mindful of French sensitivities, Tobias has been at pains to stress this expatriation would proceed without any imputation that either England or France, the French government, the French people or scholars are to be blamed for the parlous treatment which she received in Europe between 1810 and 1815.

But in vain.

De Lumley argued it was his duty to safeguard the conservation and integrity of the collections entrusted to the museum, and that, under French law, items in these collections are normally regarded as inalienable.

He also claimed he did not have the legal powers to accede to the request, and that it would be necessary for a special law to be passed by the French parliament to allow, on an exceptional basis, for the remains of Ms Baartman to be returned to South Africa.

In short, he could only agree to repatriation if specifically instructed to do so by the French government.

This has led Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Minister Ben Ngubane to adopt a new approach.

"The matter has reached an extremely sensitive and difficult stage," he said. "After having been briefed by Prof Tobias on the problems encountered during his negotiations with Dr Lumley, I have decided, through consultation with President Thabo Mbeki, to explore the possibility of direct and high-level negotiations with the French government."

This will involve a more forceful approach, uncushioned by the delicate diplomacy employed thus far.

"I remain fully committed to having the remains of Ms Baartman returned to the country of her birth," Ngubane said.

The government will seek a return of the full Saartje Baartman exhibit and all related items -- the complete skeleton, a full death-cast of her body, and certain preserved organs, including soft tissue remains of the brain and genitals. Conflicting reports exist on the whereabouts of the brain and genitals, with indications that the two jars in which they were contained might have been lost over time.

There has been considerable concern from the French authorities that the repatriation of Saartje Baartman would unleash a torrent of similar applications.

However, the request to return her remains was a special one, Ngubane said.

"She was a known-in-life person, not somebody anonymous whose remains were removed from South Africa. Descendants of the Baartman family are still living in South Africa."

But Saartje is even more than this.

She is a symbol, not only of the excesses to which inhumanity was carried during the colonial era, but also of the humiliation suffered by indigenous people in general, and those in South Africa in particular.