Our model of development has led us to the phenomenon of gentrification. Today , the smart cities , the gated communities, the new schemes for the silver economy, the new residential schemes offered to foreigners are springing up like mushrooms, accentuated by the liberalisation of the property market ; the local population is being displaced , pauperised and becoming a foreigner in his own land . And add to that the liberalisation of the labour market encouraging the corporates and the tourism industry to have recourse to relatively cheaper foreign labour at the expense of a wholesome human capital formation programme for our local labour force accompanied by higher wages reflecting their higher productive potential.
Kugan compels us to reflect on our model of development. This issue of gentrification has to be taken seriously !
This development model or the type of development option, adopted by most of our politicians, (with the exception of the leftist parties) squeezes the population per sq km, (presently some 611.24 persons per sq km and ranked 18th in the world in terms of population density; the highest of African countries )on top of one another in the main cities while the ex-sugar barons and corporates speculate on our precious land to convert Mauritius into a real estate jungle peopled by outsiders without any concern about its impact on the local population, the environment, the future ...
The Real Estate Schemes (RES) was started by the MSM-MMM government and accelerated during the Mansoor-Sithanen years. The successive regimes did their utmost to advance the private sector’s interests by liberalising land to unlock massive potential for profits in real estate development for large land owners,. Successive governments have kept on promoting the RES or variants of it with increased determination, an abomination decried by independent economists as a speculative and unproductive use of the country’s strategic land assets which were being sold off to rich foreigners.
Land prices increased so rapidly and is today out of reach of most Mauritian households. The sugar barons have in the process been extracting huge profits on their large property holdings though contributing marginally to taxation with corporate taxation slashed. These real estate schemes/Smart Cities fitted like a glove to the hand of the private sector in maximizing their land values as well as in its employment of foreigners, notably South Africans fleeing from black business empowerment, and providing them with owned or rented residences.
Most of the conglomerates also reflect their excellence at less productive activities. The policies that rely on the speculative and unproductive use of our country’s strategic land assets by selling them to foreigners (which has accounted so far for around more than 60% of the FDI inflows during the past five years) have surely generate wealth and some periods of reasonable growth but it is neither be sustainable nor inclusive in the long run. Should we be surprised then that the private sector is not forthcoming with investment in new sectors/pillars ? Why ? Because this model of growth is providing them with a more than reasonable rate of return on the low hanging fruits.
We have been building our future on quicksand and sowing the seeds for future recriminations by our progenies for putting in place policies that are promoting economic apartheid – a pervasive threat to our social and national cohesion-that's the end result of gentrification.
This is not what we had bargained for when we supported successive governments in their so-called empowerment policies, inclusiveness or the democratisation of the economy. We were told that there was unfinished business with our democracy and that it had to be further democratized; that the whole production chain had to be unbundled and more opportunities would thus be opened to/for other stakeholders, especially the small players.
These promises have gone haywire; the local landed plutocrats have joined hands with foreign capital; we are being pauperized; the plutocrats are enriching themselves at our expense. We remain bystanders, with some of our own having been bought in by the crumbs left at the table and our workers reduced to being maids and gardeners. We have become strangers in our own land.
There have not been any fundamental policy changes that are promoting long-term growth. A policy paradigm shift to enhance long-term productivity is key to ensuring our country’s future. Mauritius has so far avoided making hard choices. One of these hard choices is a politics of rupture with the RES model-with the the gentrification of Mauritius. It is time to put a stop to this model of development and re-examine the use of our land in relation to the country’s needs, including social and community needs, the natural environment and the impact of property development on our environment.
Kugan rightly demands a commitment from the parliamentary and extra-parliamentary opposition to do away with such a development model, such gentrification of our country.
Voters need to demand a campaign pledge from the different political parties that the gentrification of Mauritius be discontinued and that such a pledge be included in their political manifestos. The fundamental electoral issue is not about the representation of ethnic components of the population, but about plutocratic private interests versus enlightened national interest. Enlightened national interest demands a politics of rupture with gentrification.
