Demographic and migratory pressure, by which the government justifies Operation Wuambushu, has consequences for the functioning of public services in Mayotte. Added to this is a context of long-standing social inequalities.
Operation Wuambushu against unsanitary housing and illegal immigration was launched in Mayotte since Monday, April 24, against a backdrop of record violence. An operation wanted by the majority of the elected officials of the 101st department and part of the population. This operation got off to a start that was thwarted by legal setbacks, but the State is continuing its action with, in particular, the massive presence of law enforcement forces that criss-cross the territory.
>> “It revolts me!” : in Mayotte, residents denounce a communication operation by the prefecture after the destruction of several huts
In this territory, public services are asphyxiated, on their knees, suffocating from one end of the territory to the other. The school in particular: Mayotte has some 110,000 students, or a third of its inhabitants.
The teaching challenge
Right now it’s school holidays. Jassem, 16, plays football with friends under a blazing sun, market square in Mamoudzou. He is happy to breathe a little. “In my class, we are 39 students and already there is a lot of noisedescribes Jassem. Half of the students in the class do not have French nationality, they come from Anjouan and the Comoros. They follow almost perfectly and maybe they seek to come to Mayotte to seek a life like everyone else. Frankly, the teachers complain a lot, but they try to keep up.”
In schools in Mayotte, it is necessary to manage the degraded working conditions for lack of teachers in sufficient numbers, the frightening insecurity with the multiplication of the intrusion of violent groups who come to extort students under the threat of machetes, and the fights between rival bands. Teaching in Mayotte is a challenge, confides this teacher in a high school in the capital of the department on condition of anonymity. He is passionate about his work but often feels that he is not carrying out his public service mission. “Honestly, high schools with 3,000 students don’t exist elsewhere”deplores this teacher who is one of those who, in a low voice, support the Wuambushu operation because, he says, “we have no more room”. According to the figures, there are 850 primary classes missing in Mayotte.
A lack of health personnel
The other sector suffocated in Mayotte is that of health, explains caregivers (doctors, nurses, midwives) that we meet in Mayotte like Pauline. This 27-year-old Norman was recruited 24 hours after having sent her CV by the Departmental Council, the lack of personnel is so glaring. She works in a maternal and child protection service (PMI). “It’s a mess at the hospital, there is no other wordloose Pauline. At the PMI, we are always looking for new midwives. At the Mayotte Hospital Center, they are always understaffed. There are not enough midwives to carry out pathological consultations. There is no doctor to see the patients. So in fact the patients, we swing them a little from right to left. We are a little dissatisfied because we tell ourselves that the work is not well done.”
“These mothers are 95% Comorians who do not have the papers. I already have patients who have asked me for money to eat. They do not have the means to feed their families. already had a lady who told me that she ate pebbles to fill that void in her stomach.”
Pauline, caregiverat franceinfo
It is often said that the Mayotte maternity hospital is the first in France with 10,000 births per year. Mothers from the Comoros who take the “kwassa kwassa”, these makeshift boats, to be able to give birth in this part of France located 70 km away. “I fully understand that they come to Mayotteexplains Pauline. Here, we treat everyone and we don’t ask for anything.”
A feeling of abandonment
Social and economic inequalities, rooted in Mayotte, concern a majority. Foreigners represent 50% of the population, one of the poorest in France as a whole. “The standard of living is very poor since 80% of the population lives below the poverty line, since here the prices of consumption are 40% more expensive than in mainland France and yet the minimum wage is lower”explains Flor Tercero, lawyer at the bar of Toulouse, member of a delegation of lawyers who defends the families of the slums targeted by destruction.
“The absence of healthcare facilities, schooling or public transport and the simple fact of having to go to work, which can mean getting up at 4 a.m. to be somewhere at 8 a.m., these are all things that disorganize families too.”
Flower Third, avocadoat franceinfo
This lack of long-term investment generates a feeling of abandonment, which generates risks of excesses, blockages, violence according to a statement from the Economic and Social Council Office dated January 2023. For the Cese, a development law is needed in Mayotte.
