Charles Luylier (special correspondent to Mayotte) / Photo credits: JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP 8:24 a.m., February 14, 2024

On the island, the Mahorais have to deal with problems of delinquency, water cuts and a significant migratory flow. This situation weighs on residents and the majority of metropolitan residents choose to leave Mayotte. Around 1,000 civil servant positions would need to be filled on the archipelago despite the 43% salary indexation.

Migration tensions, delinquency, water cuts... The daily life of the Mahorais is not far from becoming unbearable. Faced with this situation, some have chosen to leave the archipelago. There are no precise figures on departures but one telling indication: the number of vacancies in the civil service is increasing. 

“I have psychological follow-up”

Léon, a 63-year-old civil servant, thought he would live a peaceful end to his career under the coconut trees. He quickly became disillusioned when he arrived on the island in the middle of Operation Wuambushu. A police operation underway in Mayotte since April 24, 2023, aimed at expelling illegal foreigners, destroying shanty towns and fighting crime in the archipelago. "We can no longer live, we can no longer go to the beach. When we are in the forest, we come across illegal immigrants who walk around with machetes. I have colleagues who have a toe cut off for a telephone." 

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The situation on the island has an impact on the mental health of this official: "I have had psychological follow-up for a month because of what we are experiencing in Mayotte. There, I am saturated", he says. 

Regular water cuts 

Here, people have been fed up almost everywhere for ten years. Around 1,000 civil servant positions would need to be filled on the island despite the 43% salary indexation. The difficulties are similar in the private sector. So much so that Julie, a recruiter, no longer wants to hire metropolitan residents. 

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“I have one crisis after another and no one wants to come to Mayotte. We want people who will settle down permanently and so today it’s not the metropolitans who come to settle down,” she explains for Europe 1. This lack of attractiveness should not improve here. The current social crisis is also compounded by water cuts. They have taken place two days out of three for six months.