The Pre-Colonial Period Of Africa's Pre-Colonial Period

(a) The Pre-Colonial Period

Africa’s pre-colonial period, including its structure, can best be meaningfully appreciated in the light of the anthropological and historical perspectives. Unfortunately, few legal studies have been conducted for the same period, consequently, coherent data do not exist that would have allowed for an in-depth and detailed analysis of various African legal systems nor, indeed, of human rights protection and promotion.

It is well known, however, that African societies achieved a reasonable degree of social political and economic organisation before the colonial era in Southern Africa, there was the Zulu empire; in Central Africa, there was the Kingdom of Monomotapa; while in East Africa, there was the Buganda

Eze also caught the point right that pre-colonial Africa was essentially an agricultural society.162 The socio-economic evolution that in many cases followed primitive communalism introduced hierarchical relations in respect of sex, age and political organizations. Political and social relations tended to be vertical. African traditional laws tended to reflect these

The French adopted this policy when it was difficult to do otherwise, “even then the Chiefs who were at the apex of traditional African Societies were reduced to being agents of French colonial administrators”.164 At the political level, French colonialism meant that the traditional rights of African societies to participate in their own government were non-existent. Freedom of movement was restricted so as to ensure the provision of cheap forced labour, both for the administration and colonial