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IOL News
18-05-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Africa Day: reparations as economic justice
An aerial drone photo taken on March 4, 2024 shows trains running on the Lagos Rail Mass Transit Blue Line in Lagos, Nigeria. The African Union's proposal to establish a Global Reparations Fund is a visionary step toward shifting the conversation from grievance to economic strategy, the writer says. Image: Xinhua / Han Xu As Africa marks 2025 Africa Day under the African Union's theme, 'Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations,' the conversation must evolve beyond apologies, acknowledgements and symbolism. Reparative justice demands capital: real, sustained and strategic financial commitment. Without it, justice risks becoming little more than rhetoric. The moral case is long established. Centuries of slavery, colonialism, and racial extraction built Western wealth while impoverishing the African continent. These were not passive injustices, but deliberate systems of economic dispossession. The legacies remain: weakened institutions, broken infrastructure and generational poverty. Reparations are not charity. They are overdue investments in rebuilding what was systematically plundered. The African Union's proposal to establish a Global Reparations Fund is a visionary step toward shifting the conversation from grievance to economic strategy. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad Loading But good intentions are not enough. The fund must be anchored in a robust development finance strategy - one that mobilises diverse, large-scale, concessionary capital. Africa already has a wide array of development finance tools at its disposal. Bond guarantees can help African governments and municipalities issue ESG-linked development bonds on favourable terms. By mitigating country risk, guarantees backed by the Reparations Fund can unlock billions in long-term capital for underserved communities, reducing dependence on foreign aid and reframing reparations as opportunity rather than charity. Blended finance, which mixes public, private, and philanthropic capital, can de-risk investment in sectors long excluded from global markets: Black-owned businesses, climate adaptation and affordable housing. By targeting historically disadvantaged communities, blended finance brings justice and development into the conversation. The Fund must also tap into private loan instruments. Private loans, through project finance, trade credit and loan syndication, can support transformational infrastructure projects such as transport, energy and water, connecting neglected regions to growth. Letters of credit and soft commodity finance can open global markets to African exporters. Credit enhancement tools like partial credit guarantees and partial risk guarantees can be deployed to lower risk and attract private capital covering political and commercial risk, improving credit ratings and reducing borrowing costs. Equity and quasi-equity instruments including mezzanine and preferred shares, can help scale African enterprises in health, agriculture, tech, affordable housing. But finance without capacity is fragile. Building resilient institutions and local capacity is essential to ensure funds are used effectively. Reparations must deliver not just infrastructure, but institutional transformation. Technical assistance - from feasibility studies to procurement systems - is essential. Strong institutions, especially at the local level, are the bedrock of sustainable development. Reparative justice must build capacity, not just capital stock. The success of this effort hinges on governance. The AU Reparations Fund must be more than a symbol. It must be transparent, accountable, and community driven. It must prioritise outcomes over optics. Financing schools, not statues, businesses, not bureaucracies. This is also a matter of reframing. Reparations are not just about redress they are about building a fairer future. Properly structured, reparative finance aligns with global priorities: sustainable development, climate resilience and inclusive growth. These are not African issues alone. They are universal imperatives. Critics often argue reparations are impractical. Yet trillions have been mobilised for war, pandemics and financial bailouts. The real barrier is not scarcity of funds but scarcity of political will. Reparations framed as economic justice can shift the debate from grievance to strategy, from guilt to growth, and from a focus on the past to the future. Africa doesn't need another roundtable of apologies. It needs critical but patient capital that builds schools, not just statues; funds businesses, not just ceremonies; and finances dignity not mere tokenism. The African Union's reparations initiative can be that turning point if it draws boldly from the development finance toolbox, grounded in accountability and moral clarity. Justice without capital is just conversation. It's time to finance Africa's future and with it, a fairer world. Dr Paul Terna Gbahabo is a postdoctoral researcher at Stellenbosch Business School and a development finance expert focusing on innovative financing, structural transformation, and inclusive growth in Africa. Dr Paul Terna Gbahabo. Image: Supplied. Dr Paul Terna Gbahabo. Image: Supplied. Visit: BUSINESS REPORT
Telegraph
16-04-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Why is No 10 tight-lipped about welcoming reparation campaigner?
A Foreign Office spokesman at that time had denied that there were any plans for a ministerial meeting, claiming no date had been set for a UK-Caricom meeting. Imagine my surprise then to come across a press release on 4th April - issued not by the Foreign Office but by No 10 - that Sir Keir had welcomed Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados to Downing Street that morning. When was this meeting scheduled, I asked the Downing Street Press Office. Were any payments to Barbados discussed at the meeting? My questions were refused, with the spokesman instead directing me back to the rather bare-boned press release, which would only provide the following information: 'The leaders reflected on the strength of the relationship between the UK and Barbados, and the shared challenges faced by the two countries, including growth, climate change and global instability. 'The Prime Minister also thanked Prime Minister Mottley for the action taken by Barbados against the Russian shadow fleet.' A standard news agency report on the meeting offered some interesting details.'We've known each other many, many years as good colleagues and now as leaders who work together, think alike', Sir Keir said of his guest, a fellow King's Counsel who was educated at the London School of Economics. In her response, Ms Mottley said, '[w]e've had the opportunity to meet a number of times since you've assumed office.' We know that at least one of those times - at the Commonwealth Head of Governments summit - the matter of reparations has certainly been discussed. How many other discussions have there been on the subject, given Ms Mottley's focused, high profile and long-running campaign for compensation? There are other reasons to be wary of a ruinous bill being presented to Parliament as a fait accompli, much in the same way as the Mauritius payment, not the least because it is the same international judge from Jamaica who ruled against the UK on the Chagos Islands who has called for Britain to pay more than £18 trillion in reparations for slavery, declaring even that amount to be an 'underestimation' of the damage caused. While calls for reparations are longstanding, in recent years they have been reportedly gaining momentum worldwide, 'particularly among Caricom [of which Ms Mottley is the current Chair] and the African Union', whose joint theme for 2025 is ' Justice for Africans and the People of African Descent through reparations.' These organisations enjoy the support of both the European Union and the United Nations leadership - indeed, Ms Mottley is widely viewed as a potential candidate to succeed Antonio Guterres as the next UN secretary-general - who appear to be increasingly willing to entertain compensation claims. Speakers at a session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on African Descent in New York declared only yesterday that 'the calls for reparatory justice can no longer be ignored'. These calls at the Forum are being led by Ms Mottley's Caricom colleague, Dr Hilary Brown. International campaigners are also encouraged by what they view as a British government sympathetic to their cause after 14 years of Conservative-led refusal to discuss compensation claims. Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Attorney General Lord Hermer have both previously voiced their support for reparations, hitherto a political position only championed by edgier backbenchers such as Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Dawn Butler. While the Government has steadfastly refused to allow the word reparations to enter its formal communiqué, it has been more comfortable using expressions such as addressing 'wrongs of the past' when discussing payments to former colonies, as we've seen in the case of the Mauritius deal. In the case of Barbados and other Caribbean nations, if Ms Mottley is successful in her campaign, the bill presented to the taxpayer would likely be framed as payments towards the climate crisis, rather than reparations. But of course, reparation by any other name is still reparation. As, of course, is bankruptcy.
Egypt Today
15-02-2025
- Politics
- Egypt Today
38th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State, Government of AU kicks off in Addis Ababa
File- Member states of the African Union in session at the union's headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Tiksa Negeri/Reuters CAIRO – 15 February 2025: The 38th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union (AU) kicked off in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Saturday. Meetings of the 38th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the AU will last for two days with the participation of a large number of African heads of state and government. The meeting will commence with the AU anthem followed by opening statements from various leaders. The Assembly will take place under the AU theme for 2025, 'Justice for African and People of African Descent Through Reparations'. In this context, it is expected that the Summit will review and assess what has been achieved in Africa's efforts towards the attainment of long overdue justice and reparations and decades of colonialism and apartheid, slavery and the trans-Atlantic slave trade. One of the highly anticipated responsibilities of the forthcoming Assembly will be to elect and appoint the AU Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson. The Assembly takes place against a backdrop of a myriad of challenges, including threats to democratic governance, peace and security, through unconstitutional changes of government and post-election violence. The Assembly will elect new Members of the AU Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) to replace the current members, whose three-year terms are set to expire.
Zawya
12-02-2025
- Politics
- Zawya
Media Statement on the 46th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 12 and 13 February 2025
The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Minister Ronald Lamola, has arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, leading the South African delegation to the 46th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the AU on 12 and 13 February 2025. The Council will convene under the agreed AU theme for 2025, Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations, which will be officially launched by the Assembly. Throughout 2025, all AU Member States will review and assess the achievements made by the Continent towards the attainment of long overdue justice and reparations following decades of colonialism, apartheid, slavery, the slave trade, and the transatlantic slave trade. One of the most highly anticipated responsibilities and key features of the forthcoming Executive Council is the election of six commissioners for the AU Commission. The six commissioners to be elected will oversee the following portfolios: Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment (ARBE); Economic Development, Trade, Tourism, Industry and Minerals (ETTIM); Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (ESTI); Infrastructure and Energy (I&E); Health, Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development (HHS); and Political Affairs, Peace and Security (PAPS). South Africa, for its part, has put forward two candidates, Dr Molapo Qhobela and Mr Lerato Mataboge, for the roles of Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation (ESTI) and Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy, respectively. After a thorough interview, both candidates were shortlisted for the next stage of the elections. The Council is anticipated to conduct elections on 12 February 2025. Furthermore, the forthcoming Executive Council will take place in a few months since South Africa assumed its Presidency of the G20 in December 2024. The Council will inevitably have to reflect on what South Africa's G20 Presidency presents in terms of the opportunity to place the interests of the Continent right at the centre of the G20 agenda. In this regard, the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa, Minister Lamola, will brief the Council on some of the key priorities of South Africa's Presidency of the G20 and how they align with Agenda 2063. The Executive Council is expected to consider the reports on the organisation's financial state in terms of implementing its key priorities, including maintaining peace and security on the Continent, implementing Agenda 2063, improving Africa's socio-economic status, addressing the devastating impact of climate change in Africa, and advocating for human rights and good governance across the Continent. In addition, the Executive Council will receive a briefing on the progress made in implementing the Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan (STYIP) of Agenda 2063, the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and the annual activities of the various AU Organs and Agencies. The 46th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council takes place against the backdrop of an African Continent that is facing a myriad of challenges, including threats to democratic governance, peace and security through unconstitutional changes of government and post-election violence. Of key concern to South Africa is the ongoing raging war in the Eastern DRC, which led to the recent attacks, and 14 South African soldiers lost their lives. The Council meets amid the Continent that is bedevilled by inter and intra-state conflicts, terrorism and violent extremism, poverty, food and energy insecurity, the impact of climate change, inadequate infrastructure, low productivity, trade barriers and continued dependence on external aid and markets. The ongoing debt crisis by African countries and the consequent default on their debt repayments remains an issue of serious concern for the continent. According to the World Bank Report, as of July 2024, 22 African countries were either in or at a high risk of debt distress that required debt restructuring. Most African countries are unable to meet citizens' basic needs, such as health, education, and employment, due to their debt burden. As one of the leading Member States of the AU, South Africa's participation in the Executive Council will be critical to advancing the organisation's agenda and priorities. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: Department of International Relations and Cooperation.
