Online Reporter
George Maponga in MIDRAND, South Africa
THE Pan-African Parliament (PAP) has amplified calls for Africa to receive reparations for colonialism, noting that the continent continues to be haunted by the ghost of this sad chapter in its history.
During a high-level plenary debate on the African union (AU) theme for the year 2025, “Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations”, the continental legislature unanimously called for Africa to be paid reparations for injustices during the dark period of colonialism.
The legislators said Africa continued to bear the brunt of the sad legacy of colonialism, which was partly to blame for internecine conflict in several flash points across the continent.
Colonialism also imposed boundaries that created modern states riven by divisions along ethnic fault lines.
PAP legislators rallied the continent to unite and draw inspiration from the AU founding fathers, who identified a single and united Africa as the panacea to its development challenges.
Some of the legislators also demanded the repatriation of artefacts that were stolen from Africa by colonisers and are currently in museums in foreign lands.
PAP president Chief Fortune Charumbira lamented the plunder of African artefacts by Europeans, noting that Zimbabwe lost its heritage, including the soapstone birds that are an important symbol today as an emblem on the national flag.
“In Zimbabwe, some of the looted birds, which are an important national symbol, were returned from Germany, but only two pieces were returned, and that is not all. We have said we need all our artefacts that were looted because they are part of our identity and cultural heritage that define us as a people,” Chief Charumbira said.
This was backed by Mberengwa West Member of Parliament Tafanana Zhou, a PAP member representing Zimbabwe, who indicated that stolen artefacts should be included in the demand for reparations for colonialism.
He also noted that the colonisers had looted skulls of the country’s Chimurenga heroes and heroines.
“In this call for reparations for colonialism, we must also demand the unconditional return of the skulls of our heroes and heroines who were hanged for resisting the first colonisers to invade our lands,” he said.
“These colonisers took skulls of our heroes and heroines as human trophies to their museums in Europe, and for all these years they were making money from the skulls.
“They must pay compensation for the money they made unjustifiably.”
Fellow PAP member Mr Happymore Chidziva, who is the opposition CCC legislator for Glen View North, outlined the toll of colonialism on Africa.
Besides creating national boundaries that divided people, said Mr Chidziva, colonialism caused Africans to lose their cultural identity.
He told the continental legislators that it was sad that Africa continued to reel from the effects of colonialism.
“In my country, the President, Dr Mnangagwa, has since commissioned an academic study to determine the financial cost to the nation caused by sanctions (illegal).”
He also praised President Mnangagwa’s Government for constituting the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC), which he credited for promoting peace and reconciliation in the country, helping to heal old wounds, some of which can be traced to colonialism.
Ugandan legislator Mr Patrick Nsamba pushed for the dismantling of national boundaries that were left by colonialism and payment of reparations.
He, however, emphasised the need for Africa to have a strategy first.
Kenyan parliamentarian and PAP member Senator Professor Margaret Kamar said it was sad and ironic that the continental legislature was using languages of its former colonisers to debate compensation for colonialism.
“Before we go far, let us ask ourselves in this chamber: What languages are we using for debating? We are using the language(s) of those who colonised us yesterday, and that is the first thing that we must try to get rid of.”
Prof Kamar suggested that the continent should speedily dismantle colonial boundaries and unite, while speaking with one voice since its citizens faced similar problems.
Others also called for African countries to speed up the full operationalisation of the African Continental Free Trade Area, which is expected to boost trade and growth on the continent.
