{"id":102480,"date":"2025-11-27T23:03:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T21:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=102480"},"modified":"2025-11-27T23:03:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T21:03:17","slug":"unrest-documentary-reignites-urgent-call-for-dignity-justice-and-community-custodianship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/unrest-documentary-reignites-urgent-call-for-dignity-justice-and-community-custodianship\/","title":{"rendered":"UnRest Documentary Reignites Urgent Call for Dignity, Justice and Community Custodianship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n3-minute read | 27 November 2025<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"

The construction site in Prestwich Street, where human remains were found. \ud83d\udcf8Image: Sunday Independent<\/p><\/div>\n

A powerful new documentary, UnRest, has reignited national debate over dignity, justice and the long-buried wounds of slavery in Cape Town. The film, led by Professor Siona O\u2019Connell, examines the Prestwich Street burial ground and the centuries-long fight to treat enslaved and displaced people with the humanity they were denied in life.<\/p>\n

Urgent calls for accountability and ethical remembrance follow distressing discoveries: human remains believed to be slaves brought from Indonesia, Sumatra, South India, Mozambique and Angola were unearthed during construction projects in Green Point. Many of these individuals, Professor O\u2019Connell notes, \u201cwere hardly acknowledged not acknowledged at all as human beings,\u201d their bodies discarded in mass pits without dignity.<\/p>\n

The documentary traces how these remains were uncovered again in 2003 during excavation for the Rockwell Building, exposing not only bones but funerary objects carefully placed according to cultural ritual. \u201cThis wasn\u2019t a haphazard piling together of bones,\u201d she explains. \u201cIt was careful, measured and deliberate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet the 90-day protection period meant to safeguard the site was ignored. The remains were swiftly removed as development continued an act O\u2019Connell describes as \u201cbrutal\u201d and symbolic of wider systemic failures. What followed was \u201ca painful and emotional journey across the city,\u201d with the boxes of ancestors moved repeatedly, eventually ending up hidden in a school storeroom beside a coffee shop.<\/p>\n

Beyond exposing past injustices, UnRest<\/em>\u00a0challenges institutions particularly universities to confront their own complicity. O\u2019Connell argues that academia must shift from a posture of authority to genuine partnership with affected communities. \u201cUniversities are culpable,\u201d she asserts. \u201cThey hold power over human remains and over people who do not sit within their walls.\u201d<\/p>\n

While community committees fought tirelessly for recognition, their voices were often overshadowed by bureaucracy and development interests. The film positions their struggle as a moral imperative: to restore dignity, to honour ancestors, and to assert custodianship over heritage that still shapes identity today.<\/p>\n

As South Africa continues reckoning with its layered past, UnRest<\/em>\u00a0offers a stark reminder memory is not passive. It demands action, ethical responsibility and a collective commitment to human dignity.<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong> to the full interview on Sabahul Muslim<\/em><\/a> with Moulana Junaid Kharsany and Prfessor Siona O’Connell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read | 27 November 2025 A powerful new documentary, UnRest, has reignited national debate over dignity, justice and the long-buried wounds of slavery in Cape Town. The film, led by Professor Siona O\u2019Connell, examines the Prestwich Street burial ground and the centuries-long fight to treat enslaved and displaced people with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":102481,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Preswich-Street.jpg?fit=522%2C392&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-qEU","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-07 19:01:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}