[AFRICA MONTH] Exploring the concepts of justice and reparations in a global context

Inspired by the African Union’s 2025 theme “Year of Justice for Africans and People of African Descent Through Reparations”, a panel discussion, chaired by Thabang Moleko from the Rhodes Business School, was held on 26 May, in celebration of Africa Day. 

Rhodes University Vice-Chancellor Professor Sizwe Mabizela opened the event by reminding us of the intentions of the Organisation of African Unity. Honouring forebearers who fought against colonialism, slavery, and apartheid, he went on to express “the urgent need for reparations as a means to dismantle structural inequality and restore dignity”. Prof Mabizela emphasised, “We must also renew our commitment to the vision of an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa.” He then took the opportunity to caution against Afrophobia, which often manifests on university campuses, where African professionals face suspicion, exclusion, and disrespect.

Director of Global Engagement at Rhodes University, Orla Quinlan, reflected that “the injustices and dehumanisation of slavery, colonialism, apartheid, and genocide – concerns of the 2025 theme – are not confined to the past, nor isolated phenomena unique to the African continent. They are part of a pervasive global system rooted in unequal power dynamics that continue to disadvantage many countries”. 

She continued, “Today, an estimated 50 million people live in conditions of modern slavery, including forced labour, forced marriage, human trafficking, and sexual exploitation.” Many global border disputes stem from colonial map-making, while apartheid and segregation persist in different forms. Genocides have endured since the horrors inflicted on the Hereros in Namibia (1904), the Armenians (1915), the Holocaust in Europe  (1941-45), Cambodia (1975-79) Bosnia (1990s). “Today we bear witness to inhumane atrocities in Gaza and West Bank, occupied territories of Palestine, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, to name a few,” Quinlan continued. She emphasised the importance of global solidarity against injustices. “The Choctaw Nation sent aid to Ireland during the Famine 1847, a profound gesture of solidarity, given their own recent experience of ethnic cleansing during their Trail of Tears (1830-50),” she reminded attendees. Quinlan called for resistance to narratives that elevate the suffering of some, while dehumanising others, advocating instead for solidarity and a collective journey toward humanisation, based on social justice, internationalism and peace-building. 

Professor Ciraj Rassool, Senior Professor of Historical Studies at the University of the Western Cape, called for “restitution to go beyond symbolic gestures and become a process of social restoration and epistemic justice”. He examined the colonial-era practice of grave-robbing and collecting the remains of Khoisan people and others for pseudo-scientific ‘racial’ study, notably pointing to Alfred C. Haddon, who advocated these practices in both Ireland and South Africa. “This formed the basis of South Africa’s internal colonialism and shaped early scientific institutions using the bodies of the colonised,” Prof Rassool said. He emphasised that “restitution is not simply about returning remains, but about dismantling colonial systems of classification and reclaiming African dignity through memory and repair”. He praised Iziko Museums for pioneering ‘deaccessioning’, the removal of unethically-acquired human remains from museum registries, coining the Afrikaans term ‘onboek’ (to take out of the book). 

Prof Rassool distinguished between ‘repatriation (the act of giving, often on the coloniser’s terms)’ and ‘restitution (a demand for justice by the formerly colonised)’, advocating for African-led processes of restitution. He cited the successful financial claims by Kenyan survivors of British colonial-era abuses and the University College London (UCL) Legacies of British Slavery project, which exposed how the British compensated slave owners, not the enslaved, using government loans. Prof Rassool stressed that “symbolic and cultural reparations, as envisioned by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, are essential for long-term healing”. He called for a pan-African project of restitution requiring collaboration among scholars, activists, communities and governments to transform museums and challenge colonial systems of classification, at its core. He argued, “Restitution is about restoring agency and rewriting history through African leadership and values, a shared responsibility across the continent and its diaspora.”

Professor Shahid Vawda, Research Fellow at Rhodes University’s History Department, highlighted key frameworks on restitution, including the UNESCO 1970 Convention, the Savoy-Sarr Report, the Cape Town Document on Modern Heritage (2022), and the recent Nairobi Outcome on Heritage and Authenticity. He noted significant gaps in South Africa’s heritage policy and placed human dignity at the heart of restorative justice. Drawing on South African examples, he illustrated the complex dimensions of restitution: domestic, continental, global, and archival, such as the repatriation of Namibian archives and an Egyptian mummy from Durban Museum. These cases raised ethical questions about ownership, digitisation, and narrative authority. Reflecting on the University of Cape Town’s six-year process of returning human remains, Prof Vawda pointed to enduring tensions between scientific norms and community needs, exacerbated by the absence of legal frameworks. He cautioned that failing to interrogate science’s ties to racial ideologies risks perpetuating institutional racism. Emphasising Africa’s modern heritage and South Africa’s sub-imperial role in the continent’s past, he argued that restorative justice must reflect the diverse values of affected communities. He also discussed the return of South African artworks from abroad and called for stronger international cooperation. Turning to memory and art, he examined Dumile Feni’s African Guernica in relation to Picasso’s Guernica, both depicting suffering, but Feni’s work more deeply engages with colonial legacies and African resistance. Prof Vawda concluded that: “True justice requires more than legal redress; it demands epistemic transformation and planetary consciousness, especially in the face of climate crises… Justice is not only about reparations, and solidarity is not only about shared identity, but about building a collective ethical future.”

Professor Pedro Tabensky, Director of the Allan Gray Centre for Leadership Ethics at Rhodes University, provided a philosophical reflection on reparations, particularly the limits of financial compensation. Drawing on his mother’s experience as a Holocaust survivor who received German compensation, he noted the inadequacy of such gestures to meaningfully address profound loss. Germany’s disparate treatment of Jewish survivors compared to the Herero and Nama peoples further exposed ongoing racial hierarchies and selective remembrance. Prof Tabensky stated, “Reparations often function more to absolve the conscience of former oppressors than to repair the dignity of the oppressed.” He emphasised that “while victims are not responsible for their suffering, they do hold the power not to perpetuate cycles of harm”. Citing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, he critiqued the weaponisation of victimhood to justify new injustices, calling instead for “a global rehumanisation project”. He proposed “a third path, neither driven by entitlement nor resentment, but a transformation of the power dynamics underpinning global injustice”. Reparations must form just one part of a broader project to reimagine relationships and dismantle systemic domination. “Healing,” he concluded, “cannot be outsourced; it must be led by those harmed, with perpetrators confronting their own roles in unjust systems.” 

In an era marked by digital misinformation, revisionist histories, and artificial intelligence-driven content, the discussion highlighted the urgent need for public forums that safeguard historical truth and cultivate informed dialogue. The panel urged participants to see reparations as an ongoing process rooted in community leadership and lived experience. Following concluding remarks and a vote of thanks from Rhodes University Deputy Dean of Humanities, Professor Patrice Mwepu, participants were invited to continue the conversation through informal networking. 

Listen to the full discussion: AN EXPLORATION OF THE CONCEPTS OF JUSTICE AND REPARATIONS