The genetic architecture of Parkinson’s disease ranges from familial monogenic forms caused by rare highly penetrant variants to complex sporadic forms associated with high-frequency low-penetrance variants. Most large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have been done in individuals of European ancestry, and data on common low-penetrance risk variants associated with Parkinson’s disease in African people are scarce. Characterisation of ethnicity-specific genetic variants in Africa is crucial, because African populations have great genetic diversity, with more private alleles than any other population.