The State proceeded, Thursday, to the destruction of 10 unsanitary dwellings on the construction site of a future high school in Longoni. For several residents on the spot, it is only a diversion after the legal setback at the start of the week.
In front of the two excavators who came to shave, Thursday, April 27, ten tin shacks on the side of the road, residents like Zarianti, contained by a line of gendarmes, let their anger explode. “It was my mother who lived there at the time. And here is my house. It is the house that is there. I didn’t even know, my father woke me up this morning saying to me: ‘they’re going to demolish, they’re already there“‘.
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After the legal setback at the start of the week, the State wants to show that it has not lost its hand in the fight against unsanitary housing. The prefecture of Mayotte has made an appointment on the construction site of the future high school of Mamoudzou to Longoni north of the capital of the territory to witness the destruction of 10 empty houses, without permanent occupants. A communication operation according to the inhabitants of the town. Nadhuif, a neighbor came to support. “They are humans, they are Mahorais he said We are from the same village. So me, personally, it revolts me!”
For him, this demolition scene is a diversion. “This is not the Wuambushu decasing operation at all. There, it has nothing to do.
“The prefecture, the government are doing this on purpose to hide their failure in Majicavo and Tsountsou.”
Nadhuif, a residentat franceinfo
They failed there he said. They said to themselves, we’re going to the Mahorais, they can’t do anything and there they’re going to disembark. Did you hear that stones were thrown here? Nope, nothing! There is nothing. Are you a witness? No, but they found peaceful people like us. There you go, there is a Mahoran proverb roughly equivalent to “Too good, too stupid! “
The forced march against unsanitary housing
These ten huts are not part of the operation as such, admits Thierry Suquet, the prefect of Mayotte but are part, he assures, of the overall objective of the State: to eradicate unsanitary housing. Over the past two years, 2,000 unsanitary habitats have been demolished on the island, Thierry Suquet list. We demolish them with operations that can make 100 habitats, with operations that can make 150, but to get to 2000, we also need operations that make 10.”
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In front of the impassive soldiers, Rachida and another helpless member of her family give another version: “They say there is someone in the family who sold them the land. We tried to stop them so they wouldn’t demolish, we just want the document. We’re not violent. We don’t Offers us no land in exchange, no relocation. What do you want us to do? We never refused to leave!“. The prefect of Mayotte indicates that he has issued orders for four other destruction perimeters and that each inhabitant has been offered accommodation solutions. The representative of the State is formal: slum demolition operations will continue, at least until the end of 2024.
