22 May 2025
Calling for justice for Africans and people of African descent through reparations, and advancing South Africa’s G20 theme of solidarity, equality and sustainability
Honourable Members, People of Africa, and Children of the Soil,
Today, we do not merely celebrate Africa Day—we reclaim it. We stand not as fragments of a broken past, but as the unshakable foundation of a future written by our own hands. This is not just a commemoration; it is a revolutionary call—a demand for total liberation from the chains of imperialism, neo-colonialism and mental slavery.
Africa was not born in the conference rooms of Berlin in 1884. Africa was born in the wisdom of Timbuktu, the resistance of Samori Touré, the brilliance of Nzinga Mbande, and the defiance of Patrice Lumumba. Our history did not begin with colonization—it was interrupted by it. And today, we declare: that interruption ends now.
We are not here to celebrate survival under the boot of empire. We are here to demand our freedom. Fully. Fiercely. Unapologetically.
Let us be clear: Africa is not poor. Africa has been plundered.
Our soil nourishes the world with gold, cobalt, rare earth minerals, oil, and innovation. That extracted wealth, the blood spilled from our people, the cultures erased by colonialism—these are not just historical wounds. They are open accounts, and the world owes us a debt.
Reparations are not charity—they are justice. From the Congo’s stolen minerals to the transatlantic slave trade, from apartheid’s brutality to neocolonial debt traps—Africa has paid in blood. Now, we demand payment in full.
Africa must be lifted on its own terms.
Not as a pawn of global empires or donor recipients
Not as a footnote in someone else’s prosperity or economic report.
But as the beating heart of a new world—a decolonial world.
The architect of a future rooted in justice, dignity, and liberation.
G20: Africa’s Platform for Liberation
62 years ago, our ancestors birthed the Organisation of African Unity, not as a gesture of diplomacy, but as an act of defiance. Today, as South Africa prepares to host the G20 under the leadership of President Ramaphosa, we carry that same revolutionary spirit—not to beg for scraps, but to claim what is ours.
In this context, SA hosting the G20 Summit this year is not just symbolic—it is revolutionary. For the first time, the most powerful economies will gather on African soil. We must ensure they do not gather to lecture us, extract from us, or placate us.
They must come to listen. To reckon. To redress.
This is not a request—it is a mandate of history. And as we chair the G20, we will ensure the world hears this truth: No more empty promises. No more modern day slavery. No more exploitation dressed as aid.
South Africa’s G20 theme—Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability—is not just words. It is a battle cry.
- Solidarity? Let that mean standing with Congo as her children die for cobalt in Western smartphones.
- Equality? Let it mean dismantling the IMF’s debt enslavement of the Global South.
- Sustainability? Let it mean forcing the Global North to pay for the climate genocide they created.
(This theme is purposefully aligned with AUs agenda 2063 and a blueprint for socio-economic transformation, regional integration, and a just and peaceful continent. Our Presidency places African integration at the heart of our engagements. This integration must show itself in all areas, such as trade, logistics, energy, intra- continental travel, and other key aspects of our shared development.)
We will not be lectured on “good governance” by those who destabilize our nations through lobby groups like AfriForum. We will not accept “aid” with strings attached while our gold, diamonds, and oil fuel their empires. The voices of the Global South are not tokens—they are truth. That Africa is not a site of charity, but a centre of power.
We must carry to that summit the spirit of Sankara. We must demand an end to debt traps, land theft, exploitative trade, and environmental violence.
SA & USA
What we witnessed last night was revolutionary leadership in action. A true illustration of statesmanship on a global stage.
A defiant stand against imperialism, white supremacy, and the forces hellbent on destabilizing our nation.
President Ramaphosa stood unshaken, a titan of principle, composed, refusing to bow to lies, propaganda, or the toxic agendas of those who seek to divide us.
While the Zuma personality cult groupies (MKP) and red beret has beens (EFF) peddle cheap populism, the President placed 62 million South Africans and the Global South above all else. This is not just leadership—this is liberation and leadership in motion.
We are in this crisis precisely because of the AfriForums, the EFF, and their ilk—agents of chaos who prioritize theatrics over the people’s suffering. But while they grandstand, the ANC and its allies are on the frontlines, fighting for real change.
Zingiswa Losi, President of COSATU, embodied revolutionary excellence, standing firm as a Black woman against the twin evils of fake news and white supremacy. She proved that the working class will not be silenced.
South Africa is at a crossroads. Will we succumb to self-serving cowards, or will we stand united against oppression? The choice is clear. We must reject the lies, reclaim our revolutionary spirit, and honor the Freedom Charter’s vision—70 years later, its fire still burns!
That is the difference between us as the ANC and other Mickey Mouse parties.
We will confront white supremacy, crush misinformation, and defend our democracy to the last breath.
President Ramaphosa dismantled the toxic myth that white South Africans are under threat, reaffirming what we already know: our Constitution protects ALL who call this land home. But let us be clear—this is not just about legal assurances; it’s about smashing the racist narratives that seek to divide us.
The struggle continues. The revolution is alive. And under the ANC’s leadership, victory is certain!
Pan-Africanism & Multilateralism
We as the ANC, and our society must be guided by the principles of Pan-Africanism. Pan-Africanism is not a slogan. It is a strategy for sovereignty and prosperity.
The ANC is the oldest liberation movement on the African continent has from its very inception fought for the dignity of Africans and true liberation of our continent. We have carried the baton for over a hundred years and will continue for the next hundred.
Pan-Africanism is not nostalgia. It is a necessity.
It means building an Africa that trades, heals and feeds itself.
It means reimagining borders that were never ours to begin with.
It means uplifting African women as leaders of policy, not just victims of policy.
It means African languages in our parliaments, in our contracts, in our code.
By keeping the spirit of our forebears and our pan-African vision always uppermost in our minds, we will be able to bridge our divides, and in multilateral platforms such as the United Nations, speak with one voice. Our overarching mission at this point in our history is to rebalance institutions such as the UN Security Council, so that it truly reflects global demographics.
Honourable Speaker,
Let this be the year Africa does not whisper at the edges of global power, but leads with clarity, courage, and conviction.
Let us walk into the G20 Summit not with deference, but with demands.
Not begging for inclusion, but building new institutions.
Not seeking permission, but setting the agenda.
As Nkrumah declared: “The independence of every African country is meaningless unless it is linked up with the total liberation of the African continent.”
So today, let us speak with one voice—from Cape to Cairo, from Dakar to Dar es Salaam:
Africa is not waiting. Africa is leading.
The Debt Trap is a Weapon—And We Must Break Free
Honorable Members, Africa’s debt is not a mistake—it is a system. A system designed to keep us kneeling while foreign powers profit.
- We spend more on debt servicing than on the development of our continent.
- We export raw wealth while importing poverty.
- We beg for vaccines while our traditional medicines are patented abroad.
This is not development—this is domination.
As G20 chair, we reject this neo-colonial extortion. We demand:
✔ Debt cancellation for the Global South.
✔ Financial reparations for centuries of plunder.
✔ A seat at the table—not as petitioners, but as equals.
Honourable members, we are not asking for favours. We are calling for a system in which African states are not pushed to the brink, and forced to take out loans on highly unfavourable terms just to meet our basic needs. In this call, we have become frontline warriors in calling for a re-shaping of the entire financial architecture of the world.
Climate Justice: The North Must Pay
There is an urgent need for climate justice and financing. It is a great threat to our livelihoods now. Despite contributing far less carbon to the atmosphere than countries in the Global North, we pay a higher price, because we have fewer financial and technical resources to respond effectively. Therefore, a central issue of our G20 agenda is climate justice.
While Europe debates carbon taxes, our people drown in floods and starve in droughts. The Global North burned the world, yet Africa burns first. When our crops and cattle fail, we all fail, catastrophically, as government we are forced to shell out for relief schemes and accommodate climate refuges flooding across borders in search of relief.
As the ANC we say:
✔ Climate reparations now.
✔ No more “green colonialism” stealing our land for carbon credits.
✔ Technology transfer—not exploitation—for a just energy transition.
Health Sovereignty: No More Vaccine Apartheid
COVID-19 exposed the murderous hypocrisy of “global health.” While the West hoarded vaccines, Africa was left to die.
✔ Africa must manufacture its own medicines.
✔ Big Pharma must end its patent apartheid.
✔ Health is a human right—not a profit scheme.
Our voice also needs to be strong in calling for global health reforms. We learned a painful lesson with COVID-19. The pandemic found our health systems far weaker than those in more affluent countries, and a weak health system under sudden added strain leads to loss of life. We need to ensure that we have the capacity as a continent to produce our own vaccines, and that our health institutions are sufficiently equipped and supported so that under any future threat scenario, we are prepared.
Young People
Africa is the youngest continent in the world. The majority of us are under the age of 35.
Honourable Speaker, I speak not just for my generation, but for the unborn children who must inherit an Africa that is not bleeding, but breathing.
Africa Day must not become a photo op or a press release.
It must be a call to arms for young people who are told to wait their turn
For the young people demanding land, jobs, and justice.
For the artists, the farmers, the healers, the fighters—whose very existence is an act of rebellion.
Africa day must be a rebuke of the lie that we are not ready. We are more than ready—we are rising.
To the youth of Africa: we are not the leaders of tomorrow— we are the generation of now. Take up the mantle of Cabral, of Fanon, of Thomas Sankara, and finish the work they began. Build, create, resist!
From the Congo to Palestine, from Haiti to Harlem, the struggle is one. We stand with all who fight against imperialism, because our freedom is bound together. We condemn the puppets who sell our land, our resources, and our dignity for the crumbs of foreign powers. Africa’s wealth must serve Africa’s people—first, last, and always!
Honorable members, the time for empty speeches is over. Africa will not rise by begging—she will rise by taking back what is hers. Let this parliament not be a chamber of compromise, but a battlefield of bold action.
Africa’s time is now.
Reparations are due.
The revolution continues.
Amandla!
Mayibuye iAfrika
Delivered by Cde Fasiha Hassan, ANC MP
NB: The delivered version may differ from the written version.