These demands fall within a much broader global conversation about reparations.
opera singer beautiful yende and foreign minister Naledi Pandor South Africa was the only one not in attendance at the coronation of King Charles III. Also stones were cut from there cullinan diamondThe largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found.
The Cullinan, named after Thomas Cullinan, president of the mining company that found it in South Africa, was minted in 1905 and was bought by Transvaal Government of the Colony for presentation to King Edward VII, 1907. it was cut nine stones and another 97 pieces.
The largest of these, Cullinan 1, known as the Star of Africa, was set at the top of the scepter presented to Charles during the coronation ceremony. Cullinan 2 is set in front of the crown he wears. Other stones are also in the possession of Britain’s royal family or displayed in the Tower of London.
The coronation has renewed calls for the return of the stones to South Africa. These calls are part of growing demands by former colonial peoples for the return of cultural artifacts removed from their countries by colonial powers.
What is the rationale for the return of the Cullinan Diamonds? What are the complications? And is there a possibility of return?
propriety
Prior to the coronation, calls for the return of the diamonds to South Africa were rising. The country’s third largest political party, led by the Economic Freedom Fighters telling them to come home, and is also a Member of Parliament for the African Transformation Movement, happy zungula, Similarly, Assistant Kamanga, a Johannesburg lawyer and activist, publicized an online petition to return the diamonds. It quickly attracted 8,000 signatures.
These demands fall under a much wider global Conversation Regarding compensation for forcibly appropriated goods as spoils of war and cultural domination. miscellaneous items Stayed Returned in their countries of origin by European universities, museums and other bodies that had acquired them in previous decades.
Activists see their moral case for the return of the diamond as unanswered, but it is up against a number of complications.
Complications: ‘given’ not ‘robbed’
Let’s go back to 1907, when louis botha was prime minister of the Transvaal, one of two boer republic which was defeated by britain South African War, 1899–1902but for what “self government” was now back, Botha now suggests buying the Cullinan diamond for Edward VII a token About the loyalty of the people of the Transvaal to the king.
At face value, this is strange, as Botha served as a Boer general in the South African War, which culminated in a Boer defeat, but only after a protracted conflict that devastated South Africa.
About 14,000 Boer soldiers lost their lives, and about 28,000 Boer men, women and children were killed. concentration camps, imprisoned by the British for preventing him from helping the Boer guerrilla army. Yet Botha refers to the “loyalty and attachment” of the Transvaal “people” (by which he almost certainly meant white people only).
Botha supported after the war Jan Smuts, another former Boer general. Smuts was instrumental in debating the matter in London. return of self-government For the former Boer republic of the Transvaal, which was transformed into a colony after its defeat.
White settler regimes were regarded as troublesome by whitehall, who was glad to be rid of them. But self-government was not independence. Britain remained largely in control of foreign policy, and crucially, could declare “Domination” (as these self-governing territories were termed) as to the war if Britain was drawn into an armed conflict.
Both these former Boer generals were realists. He recognized the realities of the Boer defeat and the devastation it had caused in South Africa. After the war he came to preach a gospel of “reconciliation”, the argument for which was to unify the Boers and the British into a single white nation while repairing relations with Britain, whose assistance he believed was necessary for reconstruction.
They also had in mind the Transvaal as a campaign for the creation of a united South Africa – a long-standing policy of Britain since the mid-19th century. In any case, Botha and Smuts regarded South Africa’s membership of the Empire and its dependence on the British Navy as essential to its defence.
We may question why this persuaded Botha to present a valuable diamond to the king. Perhaps it was mere gratitude for the grant of self-government. It was perhaps one of the more spectacular acts of international brown-nosing to secure Britain’s goodwill towards South Africa.
But in the current debate, this introduces the complication that, legally speaking, the Cullinan Diamonds were given rather than “looted” by a erstwhile South African government.
return potential
Calls for the return of the diamond, especially when no official request is supported by the South African government, are unlikely to make any impact in London. Although King Charles has encouraged investigation along the way monarchy benefited from slaveryTheir enthusiasm is unlikely to extend to the physical dismantling of the Crown Jewels.
Such decisions will have to be taken by the then government. any idea of doing so would play into the hands of the right wing conservative Partyand his determination to provoke “Culture War” Around whiteness and nationalism.
More fundamentally, the former colonial powers are Beware of issuing apologies for past sinsBecause taking responsibility for past crimes against humanity means legal obligations to make restitution, and they are determined to avoid it.
Although the Africans were never consulted, British governments could insist that the Cullinan Diamonds were not stolen, but given freely by Louis Botha. If South Africa wants the diamonds back, it will have to put up a very determined fight.
roger southallProfessor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand
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