“We cannot demand justice from others while tolerating injustice among ourselves.” Dr. Nkosana Moyo, founder of MINDS, opening words set the tone for Africa Day celebrations in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the 23rd of May 2025. Hosted in partnership with the African Philanthropy Network (APN), Mandela Institute for Development Studies (MINDS), Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), Southern African Youth Forum (SAYoF), Centre for African Philanthropy and Social Investment (CAPSI), and Wits Business School, the hybrid event brought together activists, scholars and policymakers under the theme “Justice, Solidarity and Sustainability for Africa: Pathways of Hope and Regeneration.”
In her keynote speech, Professor Thuli Madonsela, former Public Protector of South Africa and Director of Stellenbosch University’s Centre for Social Justice, exposed how colonial narratives continue to shape African realities and condemned education systems that erase African innovation and governance traditions. She highlighted the case of Stephen Wamukota, a Kenyan child whose innovative wooden handwashing station during COVID-19 was commercialized without recognition. She further reflected on the immense potential within Africa to address its challenges and contribute innovatively to global development. She encouraged a narrative shift that emphasises Africa’s capabilities and contributions rather than its struggles
The conversation progressed with Dr. Alice Mogwe, President of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), who delivered another keynote dismantling neo-colonial aid systems. “True reparations require abolishing IMF debt traps and human rights frameworks that marginalize Ubuntu,” she asserted, recounting how European donors often misunderstand fundamental African social structures like kinship networks that sustain communities during crises. She called for a stronger embrace of African-rooted philosophies, “our African normative values should be our starting point. We must amplify our voices and our Pan-African ideals.”
This was cemented by Bongiwe Ndondo, the Executive Director of Hlanganisa Community Fund, who showcased the power of African philanthropy. She described the Zimbabwean practice of isabelomuzi (communal sharing) and South Africa’s stokvel systems that move $4 billion annually as models for self-reliant development. “African philanthropy is not born out of surplus, but out of belief in a cause. This is authentic solidarity that goes beyond donor cycles,” Ndondo emphasized.
Prof Cheryl Hendricks, Executive Director of the IJR, noted that, “at the heart of this year’s theme is a bold and necessary demand, recognition, redress, and reparations for centuries of exploitation. Justice for Africans and people of African descent must go beyond symbolic gestures. It requires material, institutional, and psychological repair. Reparations are not about charity, they are about accountability, and about restoring dignity and equity to those who have been historically wronged.”
Youth voices took center stage as Kamala Dixon of SAYoF issued a generational challenge: “Our ancestors liberated nations at 20; today’s leaders cling to power at 80.” Pointing to Kenya’s #GenZ protests, he demanded systems change and innovation funding rooted in African realities rather than foreign templates.
Professor Jacob Mati of CAPSI brought the sustainability discussion back to ancestral wisdom, highlighting how Burkinabé farmers are reviving 19th-century zaï pits to combat desertification. “Why fund failing ‘climate-smart’ apps over grandmothers teaching crop rotation?” exposed the continued marginalization of African knowledge systems.
The discussions concluded with a demand to dismantle systems of exclusion, to center indigenous solutions, and to invest in leadership that serves the many, not the few.