This framework emerged after nearly three decades of fragmented post-apartheid memorial initiatives and growing contestation over monuments, restitution processes and archives. These include the debates sparked by the 2015 #RhodesMustFall movement which revealed deep tensions in South Africa’s post-1994 approach to public memory. While the Framework represents a notable attempt to address coordination gaps in South Africa’s memory sector, this brief argues that it risks reducing memorialisation to a technocratic exercise centred on infrastructure delivery and social cohesion, rather than engaging with the important political and justicerelated dimensions of public memory. This brief therefore calls for a shift in how memory-work is approached
in South Africa. It advocates for greater public participation in the design of memorial initiatives and emphasises the need to operationalise “African ways of knowing” in memorial practice. It further stresses the importance of distinguishing between heritage and memorialisation as related but distinct practices, each
carrying particular political significance. In addition, the brief argues that restitution should be reframed as part of a broader effort to restore dignity and recognition to communities historically marginalised from the national narrative. Restitution should therefore not be understood only in material terms, but also as part of a wider process of rehumanisation and historical acknowledgement.