THE eThekwini Municipality confirmed there are plans to repatriate Peten-Amun, the Egyptian mummy currently on display at the Durban Natural Science Museum.
This was revealed by eThekwini speaker, Weziwe Thusi, who said the City offered to repatriate the remains of a mummy, that is more than 2000 years old, to Egypt.
The City said the repatriation is expected to take place before the end of the first quarter of 2022.
Related story: Durban’s mummy holds significance for local resident
“The mummy was first discovered in the Durban Natural Science Museum’s inventory during the move from the Old Town Hall (now the Post Office) to the City Hall in 1910. It only had an undated label ‘Captain Myers’ found attached to it. Upon investigation, it was found that Major William Joseph Myers was a British soldier who arrived in Durban to fight in the Anglo-Boer War and was killed four days after his arrival. In the absence of further information and the mystery surrounding it, the arrival and presence of the mummy in Durban was ruled a result of direct colonialism,” Thusi said.
She added all vestiges of colonialism must be aggressively removed.
“There is quite a lot that was stolen from this continent and it is incumbent on us to correct this wrong. Currently, in European museums, there are still innumerable artefacts that were taken from Africa and have been displayed for centuries. As a result, Europeans have made a fortune from this criminal activity. We need to be part of the African crusade that seeks to return what was taken forcefully from this continent and this is exactly what we are doing in eThekwini,” she said.
The municipality is investigating the appropriate channels to transport the mummy back to Egypt.
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