Govt Disowns Viral Programme For Return Of Ancestral Remains From UK
HARARE – Government has disowned a draft programme circulating on social media purporting to show the official reception of ancestral human remains from the United Kingdom at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport today.
In a statement posted on X this morning, Permanent Secretary for Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Nick Mangwana, said no such programme appears in the Government diary.
“We have been made aware of a document purporting to be a Government Programme scheduled for today. This serves to confirm that no such programme appears in the Government Diary,” Mangwana said.
The fake draft programme claimed that President Emmerson Mnangagwa, First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, Vice Presidents Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi, ZANU PF National Chairperson Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri and other senior government officials were scheduled to receive ancestral remains at the State Pavilion at 5:15 PM today.
According to the document, the remains were to be presented to the President by Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe.
Government has not officially confirmed whose remains are expected or when they will arrive, which is part of the reason for the disclaimer.
While the viral document only refers to “ancestral human remains,” Zimbabwe has for over 10 years been negotiating with British institutions for the repatriation of Zimbabwean remains taken as war trophies during the colonial era.
According to officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage, at least 11 skulls are housed at the Natural History Museum in London and two others at the University of Cambridge’s Duckworth Laboratory
In public expectation, the remains are believed to be of First Chimurenga (1896-1897) resistance leaders including spirit mediums Mbuya Nehanda Charwe Nyakasikana and Sekuru Kaguvi, and Chief Chingaira Makoni, among others.
However, the Natural History Museum said in 2022 after extensive archival research that it had found no evidence linking the remains in its care to specific named leaders, though its Board of Trustees approved their repatriation on moral grounds.
In March 2026, eight descendants of the Chimurenga heroes formally wrote to the Natural History Museum and Cambridge offering to provide DNA for identification.
The process follows the historic return in April 2026 of eight human remains and the sacred Zimbabwe Bird soapstone — stolen in 1889 by hunter Willi Posselt and sold to Cecil John Rhodes — which had been held in South Africa for 137 years.
Government says once any remains are returned from the UK, they will undergo DNA testing, cultural consultations with Chiefs Council and traditional leaders, and will be housed in a secure shrine before a dignified reburial.