MANY make the mistake of thinking that colonialism was an aberration of a bygone era.
Well, it was not.
South Africa was the last country to gain independence on the continent, but it only managed that historic milestone exactly 30 years ago.
Looked at in another way, it means a sizeable number of South Africans — roughly more than 24 million of its estimated 63 million people — at one time lived under apartheid and its systems.
It is the same across the continent, where generations that lived under the exploitative and extractive system of colonialism are still alive today.
As Africans, we do not bear scars of colonialism only, but also of the transatlantic slave trade and apartheid, as well as their latter-day manifestations, such as illicit financial flows, neocolonialism and the bane of climate change.
Yes, we find ourselves grappling with the deleterious impact of climate change caused by the West’s industrialisation.
So, the wounds and scars are still fresh.
“It is no secret that colonial violence was brutal and systematic and those of us old enough to tell the tale still bear scars and associated trauma from the violence,” said President Mnangagwa on Thursday when he launched a study initiated by the Zimbabwe National Elders Forum (ZNEF) titled “Land Displacements: The Untold Stories of Crimes, Injustices, Trauma and Losses Experienced by Indigenous Zimbabweans During the Colonial Era (1890-1980): A Case for Reparations”.
As currently constituted, ZNEF is a grouping of eminent Zimbabweans drawn from various sections of society, including the clergy, the academia and business.
Its latest initiative holds huge meaning and significance in that it represents an effort to crystallise scattered and feeble voices, and rally a cause that has been put on the back burner for far too long.
There is a lot of literature that proves beyond reasonable doubt how the systematic industrial-scale exploitation of African countries contributed to the development, industrialisation, modernisation and high standards of living in European countries while at the same time condemning affected communities to poverty and
privation.
The case of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where King Leopold II had the audacity to enslave millions, claiming the lives of an estimated 10 million in the process, is a case in point.
Today, the gleaming streets of Brussels, incidentally the seat of the European Parliament, cannot be compared to the walkways of Kinshasa.
Resources principally from the mineral-rich DRC are the ones that helped industrialise and modernise this relatively tiny European country.
Yet Belgium cannot bring itself to apologise for its egregious crimes.
The West actually has the audacity to blame challenges confronting most African countries today on corruption, misgovernance and dictatorship — a view that is steeped in racial stereotypes — when scholarly evidence, if at all it is needed, has incontrovertibly long established the nexus between colonialism and the continent’s underdevelopment.
At least, the colonial powers should apologise first before we begin talking about reparatory justice.
President Mnangagwa’s comments last week should, therefore, be viewed in this context.
“We have observed, and indeed quite recently, as former colonial powers the United Kingdom apologising to the Mau Mau of Kenya and Germany also apologising to the Mbanderu, Herero and Nama people of Namibia,” he said.
“Therefore, we ask: When are the rest of us in the former colonies going to receive similar apologies from these people, the colonisers, the British? We wonder. We need it; they must apologise.”
What is, however, encouraging is the fact that at the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) held on February 17-18, 2024 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, member states adopted a decision on building a united front for the cause of justice and payment of reparations to Africans.
In July this year, the AU signed a memorandum of understanding with the Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund to, among other things, effectively coordinate the AU reparations agenda and implementation of the theme of the year for 2025 — “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations”.
So, ZNEF’s efforts have to be applauded as they help to understand the sheer impact of colonialism and compile information that forms the basis for claims for reparations.
Africa needs to speak with one voice to ensure justice and closure for crimes committed under colonialism.
Calls for reparations must grow louder
MANY make the mistake of thinking that colonialism was an aberration of a bygone era.
Well, it was not.
South Africa was the last country to gain independence on the continent, but it only managed that historic milestone exactly 30 years ago.
Looked at in another way, it means a sizeable number of South Africans — roughly more than 24 million of its estimated 63 million people — at one time lived under apartheid and its systems.
It is the same across the continent, where generations that lived under the exploitative and extractive system of colonialism are still alive today.
As Africans, we do not bear scars of colonialism only, but also of the transatlantic slave trade and apartheid, as well as their latter-day manifestations, such as illicit financial flows, neocolonialism and the bane of climate change.
Yes, we find ourselves grappling with the deleterious impact of climate change caused by the West’s industrialisation.
So, the wounds and scars are still fresh.
“It is no secret that colonial violence was brutal and systematic and those of us old enough to tell the tale still bear scars and associated trauma from the violence,” said President Mnangagwa on Thursday when he launched a study initiated by the Zimbabwe National Elders Forum (ZNEF) titled “Land Displacements: The Untold Stories of Crimes, Injustices, Trauma and Losses Experienced by Indigenous Zimbabweans During the Colonial Era (1890-1980): A Case for Reparations”.
As currently constituted, ZNEF is a grouping of eminent Zimbabweans drawn from various sections of society, including the clergy, the academia and business.
Its latest initiative holds huge meaning and significance in that it represents an effort to crystallise scattered and feeble voices, and rally a cause that has been put on the back burner for far too long.
There is a lot of literature that proves beyond reasonable doubt how the systematic industrial-scale exploitation of African countries contributed to the development, industrialisation, modernisation and high standards of living in European countries while at the same time condemning affected communities to poverty and
privation.
The case of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where King Leopold II had the audacity to enslave millions, claiming the lives of an estimated 10 million in the process, is a case in point.
Today, the gleaming streets of Brussels, incidentally the seat of the European Parliament, cannot be compared to the walkways of Kinshasa.
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Resources principally from the mineral-rich DRC are the ones that helped industrialise and modernise this relatively tiny European country.
Yet Belgium cannot bring itself to apologise for its egregious crimes.
The West actually has the audacity to blame challenges confronting most African countries today on corruption, misgovernance and dictatorship — a view that is steeped in racial stereotypes — when scholarly evidence, if at all it is needed, has incontrovertibly long established the nexus between colonialism and the continent’s underdevelopment.
At least, the colonial powers should apologise first before we begin talking about reparatory justice.
President Mnangagwa’s comments last week should, therefore, be viewed in this context.
“We have observed, and indeed quite recently, as former colonial powers the United Kingdom apologising to the Mau Mau of Kenya and Germany also apologising to the Mbanderu, Herero and Nama people of Namibia,” he said.
“Therefore, we ask: When are the rest of us in the former colonies going to receive similar apologies from these people, the colonisers, the British? We wonder. We need it; they must apologise.”
What is, however, encouraging is the fact that at the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union (AU) held on February 17-18, 2024 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, member states adopted a decision on building a united front for the cause of justice and payment of reparations to Africans.
In July this year, the AU signed a memorandum of understanding with the Africa Transitional Justice Legacy Fund to, among other things, effectively coordinate the AU reparations agenda and implementation of the theme of the year for 2025 — “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations”.
So, ZNEF’s efforts have to be applauded as they help to understand the sheer impact of colonialism and compile information that forms the basis for claims for reparations.
Africa needs to speak with one voice to ensure justice and closure for crimes committed under colonialism.
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