Simukai Chigudu, African politics professor: I support reparations
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 9 April 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Amol Rajan speaks to Simukai Chigudu, associate professor of African Politics at Oxford University about the legacy of empire and how to reckon with the past.
A member of the first generation born after the end of colonial rule in Zimbabwe, Simukai Chigudu came to the UK as a teenager and later became one of the founding members of a campaign to try to get the statue of imperialist Cecil Rhodes moved from Oriel College in Oxford.
Now an associate professor of African politics at the University of Oxford, he has written a memoir called Chasing Freedom: Coming of Age at the End of Empire.
He discusses the legacy of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign, why he thinks we should be decolonising the curriculum and whether countries like Britain should pay reparations for slavery.
Thank you to the Radical with Amol Rajan team for its help in making this programme. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Helen Thompson, professor of political economy at Cambridge University, and acclaimed author Sir Salman Rushdie. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenter: Amol Rajan Producer: Cordelia Hemming Editor: Damon Rose
Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
(Image: Simukai Chigudu)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.9 | Hello, I'm BBC presenter, Amol Rajan, and this is the interview from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:12.7 | The best conversations coming out of the BBC, people shaping our world from all over the world. |
| 0:19.8 | If you're not a little bit afraid, then you're not paying attention. |
| 0:24.5 | We have never seen a people so united. |
| 0:28.0 | Do not make that boat crossing. |
| 0:29.6 | Do not make that journey. |
| 0:30.7 | Being born in America, feeling American, having people treat me like I'm not. |
| 0:34.8 | We're more popular than populism. |
| 0:38.0 | For this interview, I met Simukai Chiguru, an associate professor of African politics at the |
| 0:43.7 | University of Oxford. |
| 0:45.6 | A member of the first generation born after the end of colonial rule in Zimbabwe, Simukai |
| 0:50.9 | Chiguru came to the UK as a teenager and later became one of the founding members of a campaign |
| 0:56.3 | to try to get the statue of imperialist Cecil Rhodes moved from Oriel College in Oxford. |
| 1:02.9 | Last month, the United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly back to resolution, |
| 1:07.4 | declaring the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity, opening up discussions |
| 1:12.7 | about reparations. You're going to hear from Simukai about why he thinks it's important to decolonize |
| 1:18.5 | the curriculum and where he stands on the case for paying reparations for slavery. |
| 1:24.4 | The European empires are guilty of a great many sins and horrors, and actually think they |
| 1:30.8 | should all be taking on a very serious project of decolonization and reparative justice. |
| 1:37.1 | But first, Simukai told me about his experience growing up in Zimbabwe and how this |
| 1:41.6 | informed his understanding of colonialism and the role Cecil Rhodes played. |
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