OER, Generative AI, and Equity in African Distance Higher Education

African distance higher education is increasingly shaped by open educational resources (OER) and generative artificial intelligence, yet these agendas are often governed separately. This separation is problematic because OER and AI now meet in resource discovery, translation, adaptation, tutoring, feedback, assessment, accessibility, datafication, and knowledge production. This article develops an OER-AI Equity Framework for African distance higher education. It uses an integrative critical literature review, policy and document synthesis, and conceptual framework development. The synthesis draws on peer-reviewed scholarship, Open Praxis research, UNESCO guidance, African Union digital and AI strategies, connectivity data, accessibility standards, and literature on open pedagogy, digital equity, academic integrity, learner support, epistemic justice, and teacher agency. The analysis shows that equitable integration requires more than low-cost content and tool access. It requires seven interdependent commitments: infrastructural realism; epistemic justice and localisation; open pedagogy and learner agency; accessibility and learner support; assessment redesign and academic integrity; data protection and algorithmic accountability; and teacher agency with institutional policy coherence. The framework contributes a socio-technical, pedagogical, and governance-oriented lens for institutions, instructors, policymakers, quality assurance bodies, libraries, and researchers. It argues that African learners should not be positioned as passive consumers of imported content, platforms, or models, but as capable participants in open and AI-mediated knowledge systems.