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• Zircon U/Pb dating provides two main populations: 1370–1420 Ma and 950–1000 Ma. • Th/U ratios and luminescence signal suggest anatectic conditions for the young zircons. • An intracontinental setting is proposed for these granites. • Recycling of older material is evidenced by the inherited ages in several samples. The Karagwe-Ankole belt (KAB) is a poorly understood deformation belt in the Great Lakes area of Central Africa, with several hypotheses put forward to explain the emplacement of the various generations of granites. The youngest generation of granites (G4; 1000 Ma) are spatially associated with Sn-W-Ta ore deposits, and are considered as the parental granites. The paragenesis of these mineral resources have been extensively scrutinised, but the geodynamic context and characterisation of these parental granites has been neglected. Tectonic models for the formation of this plutonic suite range from an intra-cratonic to full-scale continent–continent collision setting. In this study, the G4 intrusive suite of the KAB granites, are characterised based on whole-rock geochemical analysis and U-Pb zircon dating. Two main populations of U-Pb zircon ages are identified in the G4 granites at 1370–1420 Ma and 950–1020 Ma. The older population is attributed to inheritance of the bimodal magmatic Kibaran event, while the younger population is ascribed to the new crystallisation. G4 granites contain xenocrystic zircon, indicating inheritance of older granites or basement rocks. G4 granites are, however, much more differentiated compared to older Kibaran granites, containing higher K and Rb and lower Ca, Sr and Ba concentrations, which implicates recycling of older crustal material. The variable geochemistry, as well as the different proportions of xenocrystic zircons in the different granite bodies, suggest melting was highly localised and derived from a highly heterogeneous source region, for which an intracontinental setting is favoured. The Th/U ratios of the parental granites are lower than 0.1, which would suggest a metamorphic origin of the granites. Together with the low luminescence signal of these zircons an anatectic origin of the melt is considered, implying that the parental granites could be considered more like migmatites rather than actual granites formed by fractionation out of large magma chambers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]