Game 'reloots' African artefacts from Western museums

Under the cover of darkness, Nomali jumped over a wall, burst into a museum and snatched a human skull from a pedestal before escaping through a window to the wail of an alarm.

- JULIE BOURDIN

The daring heist was not the work of a real-life criminal. Nomali is the protagonist of a new action-packed video game where players "reclaim" artefacts taken from African countries to be displayed in the West.

Developed by Johannesburg studio Nyamakop, Relooted is set in an imaginary future but tackles a topical issue: calls for Western institutions to return to Africa the spoils of colonisation.

Players are tasked with taking back 70 artefacts — all of which exist in real life — with a “team of African citizens”, said producer Sithe Ncube, one of a team of 30 working on the game.

The items include the Benin Bronzes removed from the former kingdom of Benin more than 120 years ago, and which the Netherlands officially returned to Nigeria on June 21.

Another is the sacred Ngadji drum from Kenya's Pokomo community, which was confiscated by British colonial authorities in 1902.