Reparations Push: Zimbabwe Backs Call for Britain to Address Colonial Wrongs

Zimbabwe joins the AU–CARICOM coalition demanding Britain provide reparations for colonial injustices (image source)

Zimbabwe formally joined a growing African and Caribbean coalition pressing Britain to provide reparations for historic colonial crimes at the Second Africa–CARICOM Summit in Addis Ababa, renewing the diplomatic drive for transcontinental redress and economic justice. Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, representing President Emmerson Mnangagwa, framed reparatory justice as both a moral and economic imperative, urging coordinated AU–CARICOM action to translate demands into policy and compensation frameworks.

The summit, convened under the theme “Transcontinental Partnership in Pursuit of Reparatory Justice for Africans and People of African Descent through Reparations,” brought heads of state, diplomats, and civil society leaders together to seek practical mechanisms for restitution and development partnerships. Zimbabwe’s delegation committed to solidarity with Caribbean states and other African governments pushing Britain to acknowledge and remedy the long-term economic and social harms of colonial rule.

Officials emphasised reparations that go beyond symbolic apologies, seeking economic redress aimed at reversing structural inequalities that persist from colonial extraction to contemporary trade imbalances. Ziyambi told delegates that reparatory justice should include institutional reforms, targeted investment in affected communities, and support for development projects that rebuild productive capacity in former colonies.

Securing reparations from former colonial powers raises complex legal and diplomatic hurdles. International law scholars note that establishing state responsibility for historic acts, quantifying losses across centuries, and designing enforceable payment mechanisms are substantial barriers to immediate settlements. Legal analysts say successful claims will likely depend on clear legal frameworks, multilateral pressure, and credible valuation methodologies to make reparations actionable rather than purely rhetorical.

Policy experts attending the summit urged a phased approach: first, build a shared evidence base and valuation standards; second, establish trust funds or development bonds managed by a joint AU–CARICOM secretariat; third, pursue negotiated settlements while keeping litigation as a parallel pressure tool. Economic commentators warn that reparations must be paired with governance and investment reforms at domestic level to ensure funds catalyse sustainable growth rather than entrenching elite capture.

If Britain and other former colonial states engage constructively, the reparations agenda could reshape development financing, opening new resources for education, land reform, and industrialisation across Africa and the Caribbean. Conversely, failure to move from declarations to durable instruments risks political disillusionment among constituencies that expect tangible outcomes from multilateral diplomacy.

Zimbabwe’s visible backing at the Addis summit strengthens a consolidated transcontinental demand for reparatory justice, but the path from summit communiqués to compensatory mechanisms is long and contested.