Restorative justice's deep roots in Africa

Abstract

The motivation for writing this essay came after I had read an article by Christian B. N. Gade, entitled ‘Restorative Justice and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Process’, published in 2013 in the South African Journal of Philosophy. In this essay, Gade makes three important claims. First, he traces the seeds of the phrase ‘restorative justice’ back to the West by sampling definitions of restorative justice from Western scholars such as Christopher Marshall, Daniel W. van Ness and Albert Eglash. Second, although he does not say it explicitly, Gade seems to be suggesting that there are attempts to Africanise restorative justice by African states and, third, he claims that the relationship between restorative justice, ubuntu and African indigenous justice systems is not straightforward and is problematic. I respond to these claims by arguing that restorative justice has deep roots in Africa and that the connection between restorative justice, ubuntu and African indigenous justice systems is straightforward and unproblematic as these three concepts are closely related in Africa (including South Africa) to the extent that one cannot talk of any one of these concepts without alluding to the other two. As I defend this argument, I draw my examples from four African countries that include Zimbabwe.