December 9, 2025
In this quarterly report, we argue that Africa’s ongoing debt crisis is deeply intertwined with the legacies of colonialism, the political pressures of post-independence governance, and the global financial system’s exploitative practices. Recently liberated African states in the 1970s and 1980s faced the dual challenge of fulfilling liberation promises, such as expanding education, healthcare, and infrastructure, while relying on favorable commodity prices to sustain economic growth. This combination of political urgency and economic optimism led to extensive borrowing, often underpinned by forced loans and unrealistic economic forecasting. When the global economic downturn hit, these debts became unsustainable. In response, international financial institutions (IFIs) imposed Structural Adjustment Programs (SAPs) that mandated austerity, privatization, and drastic cuts to social spending.
These measures triggered waves of protests across the continent, particularly in countries like Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe, and Zambia, where youth movements played a central role in resisting the erosion of public services and the rise of inequality. These protests reveal how global financial institutions, enabled by political leaders who suppress dissent, extract wealth from African nations through highinterest loans and opaque financial arrangements, thus shifting debt burdens to governments and citizens.
Throughout the 1990s, African governments continued to prioritize debt repayment over social welfare, exacerbating public discontent. The Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) program in the early 2000s offered partial fiscal relief, but inconsistent implementation and ongoing mismanagement perpetuated a cycle of unrest. In recent years, protests in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe have intensified, often led by youth groups mobilizing against hidden debt scandals, rising costs of living, and the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report critically examines the legal, social, and economic dimensions of this crisis, arguing that the accumulation of sovereign debt is a consequence of both postcolonial mismanagement and the alignment of local elites with global capital, which together perpetuate the structural inequalities inherited from colonial administrations. The report also advocates for comprehensive reform of the international debt architecture, one that challenges predatory lending practices, prioritizes equitable debt restructuring, and protects fiscal sovereignty. Without these reforms, African nations will remain trapped in a cycle where the need to service unsustainable debts undermines both social development and democratic accountability.
Download the Full Report here: Debt, Protest, and the Burden of Post-Colonial Promises in Africa.
Cite As: Miracle Mudeyi, Nqobizitha Mlambo, and Treasure Basopo, "Debt, Protest, and the Burden of Post-Colonial Promises in Africa", Afronomicslaw Sovereign Debt Quarterly Brief No. 8, 2025.