“We’re not going to get out of this”

Employees who no longer come to work, customers who no longer travel, administrations with absent subscribers, unpaid invoices: at risk, Mayotte businesses are pleading with the government to support them, on the eve of the fifth week of roadblocks in the department. On Tuesday, February 20, twelve road blocks in the center and south of the archipelago, run by civil groups protesting against insecurity and irregular immigration, remained in place despite calls to suspend the movement.

It is trapped in an economy already in dire straits due to recent crises – Covid-19, water crisis, chronic insecurity, uncontrolled demographic explosion in a small region of 374 km.².

“It’s a disasterwarns Carla Balthus, president of MEDF in Mayotte. The economy of Mahora is slowly dying. After the great difficulties of 2023, the year 2024 is over. We are not going to get out of this. Some business leaders are at the end of their rope and are psychologically damaged. »

“It’s definitely a stop”

Partial activity compensation claims already concern more than 5,000 employees out of 21,000 in the local private sector. And the loss in turnover since the start of the dam movement on January 22 will increase between 80% and 100% depending on the case, estimates employer managers in 101.^E French Section. Certain sectors – bus companies, garages – have also been directly affected by acts of vandalism during episodes of violence between “intervillage” gangs.

“I have blocked the money owed to my suppliers to pay my loans and my chargesSalim Mauleeda, the boss of a small electricity company with four employees, testifies. After two years of water crisis, it is completely over. » Two of his technicians quit, one returned to France, recently traumatized after being attacked on the road, and the boss had to take over construction sites. “We find it difficult to plan, to dare to invest. Insecurity means constant tension at work and at home”Adds Mr Moulidda, who decided to settle his wife and children in Reunion.

In their February 14 letter to local elected officials, confirming plans to abolish land rights in Mayotte, the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, and his foreign representative, Marie Gouveneaux, promised a simple sentence: “The Government will ensure that support measures are put in place to support businesses in the current economic context”. like this^me Gouvenoux will be invited to clarify them during a trip to Mamoudzou, planned just after the installation of the new prefect on February 24.

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