On September 25, the youth of Madagascar, known as ‘Gen Z Madagascar’, organised an anti-government mass protest via social media. This youth-led demonstration initially focused on demanding the provision of water and electricity. A few days later, other issues such as poverty, the high cost of living, corruption, nepotism and limited access to higher education were also brought up.
The protesters ultimately called for the resignation of the president, Andry Rajoelina. A week later, the widespread protest was joined by students and trade unions.
Soldiers from the military unit of the Army Personnel Administration Centre (Capsat), led by Col Michael Randrianirina, expressed their support for the protest against the government. Some police officers also apparently backed the youth-led demonstration.
In his strategy to end the mass protests and appease the demonstrators, Rajoelina instructed the police and military to forcefully suppress the protest, and reshuffled his cabinet.
The clashes between the protesters and security forces led to the deaths of more than 22 people and more than 100 were injured. However, the protesters did not relent with their demands.
As tensions rose, Rajoelina called for dialogue, which was ignored. When the Malagasy president realised that the soldiers planned to seize power through parliamentary impeachment and a coup d’état, he announced his decision to dissolve the national assembly.
Media reports indicate that Rajoelina has been rescued and supported by the French government, which colonised the Indian Ocean nation from 1896 until 1960. Though the French government denies the allegation of his rescue, the report appears to be gaining ground in the broader media landscape. It is also alleged that Rajoelina has French citizenship, which justifies his rescue.
On Tuesday last week, the military announced its decision to take over the government and dissolved certain institutions, including the constitutional court and the independent electoral commission, among others.
The next day, Randrianirina declared himself the president of the country and is waiting to be officially sworn in. The military has publicly stated that it will announce the civilian transitional government within a few days, which will, over a period of two years, lead the country to general elections in 2028.
However, it is essential to note that since Madagascar gained independence from France in 1960, it has experienced more coups than democratically elected governments. Critically, there appears to be a missing voice that could contextualise the protesters’ demands and the recurrence of coups within an anti-colonial framework, placing Madagascar within the history of decolonial struggles in Africa.
In its quest to colonise Madagascar, France declared war on and defeated the indigenous kingdom of Merina in 1883. More than a decade later, it officially colonised the island.
The French government then closed the schools that were administered by the indigenous people of the Betsileo and Merina kingdoms and replaced them with an education system and institutions that abolished and destroyed indigenous education and languages. This was part of a nefarious agenda to destroy the rich culture and heritage of the Malagasy people. Ngugi wa Thiong’o explains this catastrophic event in his book ‘Decolonising the Mind’.
After that, a policy of forced labour and resource exploitation was introduced by the French government. Today, Madagascar has people who see themselves more as Europeans than Africans. This shows the extent to which colonialism has successfully distorted African history and eradicated Africa’s rich culture and heritage.
Young Pan African anthropologists and sociologists must rise in Madagascar and everywhere in Africa to research and rewrite the African history and re-position the current protests and coups in Madagascar within the critical analysis of the legacy and impact of colonialism and decolonial theory.
The sad reality is that the legacy of the colonial system of governance still influences the political and socio-economic system of the so-called post-colonial period in Madagascar.
For example, the French policy of resource exploitation ensured that resources such as vanilla, coffee, cloves and others were exploited and exported to France. After more than six decades of independence, Madagascar still essentially has an export-led economic policy.
Madagascar produces and exports raw materials such as nickel, cobalt, cloves, coffee, vanilla, prawns and shrimps mainly to European countries. Thereafter, it imports processed and finished products that are very expensive for the poor and working-class citizens.
This unfortunate situation reminds us of Kwame Nkrumah’s views in his 1963 book, Africa must unite. He argues that it cannot be that Ghana, a country that was the second-largest producer and exporter of cocoa, has no single factory that uses cocoa to produce coffee and chocolate. Instead, it exports raw cocoa and imports coffee and chocolate as finished products.
Rajoelina ascended to power in 2009 after his predecessor Marc Ravalomanana was ousted through a military coup supported by the same Capsat unit. He served as a transitional president until 2013. However, in 2018 and 2023 he was elected president of the country and remained in office until last week.
He promised the citizens he would strengthen the local economy through his policy of ‘One District, One Factory’. Unfortunately he failed to dismantle the colonial economic system that continues to benefit France and other European countries at the expense of more than 75% of the Malagasy population that lives below the poverty line. Only 39% of the population have access to electricity and there is poor provision of clean water.
Madagascar needs visionary, ethical and innovative Pan-African leadership that can industrialise and prudently manage state resources to improve living conditions through the provision of water, electricity and much-needed services, create jobs and combat corruption.
To have a better understanding of the socio-economic and political problems that are bedevilling Madagascar, one needs to apply critical development theories, such as dependency theory and others. Dependency theory assumes that Africa’s problems are created by both internal issues of bad leadership, corruption, lack of political will, ethnicity, weak institutions, and so on, as well as external influence of neo-colonial interference, as opposed to modernisation theorists who want us to believe that liberal democracy, imperialism and colonialism are the best form of governance, and the underdevelopment of Africa should be squarely attributed to internal challenges.
Citizens should seize this moment to foster an inclusive and decolonial dialogue aligned with the AU’s aspirations, which focus on building ‘Africa with a strong cultural identity’, shared heritage and values. A continent where development and agenda are driven by Africans, leveraging the potential and capabilities of its people. An African-led solution to coups and the challenges of peace and security is much-needed in Madagascar.
The AU has decided to suspend Madagascar’s membership, arguing that it does not support the unconstitutional and unelected government. The AU needs to critically and deeply analyse the problem ― merely suspending membership and calling for inclusive dialogue is not sufficient.
Orapeleng Matshediso is a master’s graduate of Pan African Development Studies and a Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg (Institute for Pan African Thought and Conversation). The author is also an alumnus of the then Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute
For opinion and analysis consideration, email Opinions@timeslive.co.za
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