Fury as Beyonce to cast South African woman paraded around 19th Century freak shows because of her huge buttocks as tribe say the singer 'lacks human dignity'

Beyonce has been accused of ‘arrogance’ and lacking ‘basic human dignity’ following news that she is writing and starring in a film about one of South Africa’s most tragic historical figures. The leader of the Ghonaqua people, the ethnic group (illustrated right) Baartman was from, queried why Beyonce hadn’t chosen a story from the history of America's own indigenous people instead

The singer will cast herself as Saartjie Baartman, from the ‘bushmen’ tribe, who was forced to star in a London freak show 200 years ago, due to her extraordinarily large buttocks and 'exotic features'.

The star, whose modest film parts to date include Austin Powers, has seized on the story of Baartman - who is now an icon for racial and sexist exploitation in Africa - as a means of reinventing herself as a serious writer and actress, according to reports.

However, the development has been met with alarm by a chief from Baartman’s indigenous tribe, who claimed Beyonce had no right to tell one of the most shameful stories from British colonial history.

'She lacks the basic human dignity to be worthy of writing Sarah's story, let alone playing the part,' Chief Jean Burgess told Times Live.

Baartmen's genitals were put on public display in France after her death in 1815. It was only in 2002, after a personal plea from Nelson Mandela, that her remains were returned home and properly interned

Her corpse was sketched extensively, a cast was made of it and a surgeon removed her genitals which were on display in Paris until the 1970s, along with her skeleton.

It was only in 2002, after a personal appeal by Nelson Mandela, who was born in the same remote, rural part of South Africa, that her remains were returned for a dignified burial.