African legislators attending the 5th Ordinary Session of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) in Midrand, South Africa, have made an unprecedented joint demand for reparations from former colonial powers, citing centuries of injustice, theft, and oppression.
Gambian MP Sulayman Saho likened the trans-Atlantic slave trade to a “holocaust,” saying it claimed millions of African lives and derailed the continent’s development.
“In addition to paying reparations, the looted resources that were taken to England must be returned, and there should be a court system to start the trials,” he urged.
Kenyan Senator Danson Mungatana stressed the need for legal action to force compensation, referencing precedents such as the 2019 Mau Mau veterans’ case in the UK and the Herero genocide lawsuit against Germany.
“In Namibia, the Herero community also went to court, claiming that 80,000 of their people were killed by German colonisers,” he said.
Lesotho MP Mamello Phoko questioned how African societies can restore their identity after cultural erosion under colonialism.
“We are lost in the culture of the people who colonised us. Everything that was taken from Africans must be given back,” she said. “Whatever you took from a man, you have to return it.”
Ugandan MP Nsamba Patrick asserted that reparations must be treated as a right. “Reparations are not a favour.
They are a legal and moral right that African people must demand,” he said. But he also cautioned against internal hypocrisy: “We cannot demand reparations for colonial injustices while we continue to abuse our own citizens… Multinationals are exploiting us because of the corruption of our leaders.”
The Pan-African Parliament’s 10-day session, which runs from July 21 to 31, is being held under the African Union’s 2025 theme: Justice for Africans and Persons of African Descent Through Reparations.
