SA-Ghana relations stronger; won't allow differences to affect reparations demand

The South African government has given the most decisive assurance yet that ongoing differences with Ghana over migration issues will not affect its support for, or participation in, the campaign to demand reparations for colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade.

Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama is championing the campaign, which includes the support and full participation of nations in the Caribbean.

On Thursday, South African Minister in the Presidency, a senior member of the Cabinet and generally regarded as President Cyril Ramaphosa’s [correct title/name as applicable], Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, briefed the media in Pretoria and boldly asserted South Africa’s position that there is no doubt Africans, including those in the diaspora, must be compensated for the human rights violations they suffered at the hands of Western powers over centuries.

“So our support for the continental campaign to demand reparations for colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade, it's a principled support. It's principled based on the history of this country as well, but also on an acknowledgment that globally other people got compensated for the harm they suffered,” the minister said.

Ntshavheni cited as an example the Jews who were killed and persecuted by Adolf Hitler in what has come to be known as the Holocaust and were later compensated, including through resettlement in Palestine, where the State of Israel was established. The United Nations played a leading role in the compensation of Holocaust victims.

“The Jews were compensated for the Holocaust, but Africans were not compensated for the slave trade and the aftereffects of colonialism,” she said, questioning what she described as inconsistencies in the application of international law.

Ironically, Israel, along with the US administration under Donald Trump, has become one of the biggest critics of the United Nations.

She emphasised that Ghana should not be seen as acting alone, indicating that it was carrying the mandate of the entire African continent as well as the diaspora and had South Africa’s full support.

“It's not only the people of Ghana or West Africa. It's also the people of Namibia, but also our own people in South Africa. So our campaign is not based on misinformation that is being driven,” the minister said.

“Africans deserve not only an acknowledgment of the wrongs that were visited on them, but Africans deserve to be compensated. It is for that reason that in our own country, we are redressing the injustices of the past, the injustices of the apartheid rule and colonialism,” she said.

She cited South Africa’s own redress efforts, commonly referred to as the transformation agenda, which includes land reform aimed at transferring land ownership to the Black majority, workplace measures that prioritise previously disadvantaged groups, and Black Economic Empowerment, which seeks to increase the participation of Black-owned enterprises in the economy.