Writing in his weekly newsletter on Monday, 4 May, to mark the start of Africa Month, Ramaphosa stated that the continent’s current struggles with poverty, debt, and instability are the direct result of a colonial legacy that has never been fully addressed.

The President highlighted the transcontinental slave trade as the most extreme form of dehumanization, noting that for over a century, millions of Africans were traded as “possessions.”

He rejected the argument that too much time has passed for reparations to be relevant, citing the “intergenerational trauma” that continues to hold back African societies.

Quoting academic Walter Rodney’s 1972 work, Ramaphosa noted: “when one tries to measure the effect of European slave trading on the African continent, it is essential to realise that one is measuring the effect of social violence rather than trade in any normal sense of the word.”

The call for compensation follows a landmark United Nations General Assembly resolution passed in March. The resolution declared the trafficking and racialized enslavement of Africans as the “gravest crime against humanity.”

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This international move has shifted the focus toward “reparatory justice,” including the return of robbed cultural property and financial compensation.

Ramaphosa emphasized that the colonial enterprise was driven by profit, again quoting Rodney: “it was economics that determined that Europe should invest in Africa and control the continent’s raw materials and labour”.

What reparations should look like

Ramaphosa clarified that reparations must go beyond symbolic apologies.

He argued that since the exploitation of African labor and resources enriched the West, compensation must take the form of “sustained, direct, material investment.”

His proposal calls for increased foreign direct investment, improved market access for affected nations, and the immediate transfer of skills and technology.

Furthermore, Ramaphosa insisted on the return of historical artifacts currently held in European institutions.

“Whatever form reparations ultimately take, they should be aligned with our continent’s developmental objectives and assist African countries to tackle debt challenges, poverty alleviation, inequality and unemployment,” Ramaphosa wrote.

Reflecting on South Africa’s own history of transition, the President urged former colonial powers to approach the issue with the same transparency used in South Africa’s own path to nationhood.

“Just as truth and reconciliation has been an integral part of our own journey towards nationhood, so too must the former colonial powers confront the historical injustice of colonialism with honesty and integrity,” he noted.