Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius is a liberal capitalist state located off the coast of Southern Africa near Madagascar and the Seychelles.
Positives and Negatives
Positives
- Alongside Botswana, Mauritius is the only African country to have not experienced a dictatorship or civil war since independence.
- Mauritius scores among the highest in Africa for all quality of life indicators and is comparable to Western Europe or North America.
- Mauritius maintains a strong social democracy with free universal health care, free education up to tertiary level and free public transport for students, senior citizens, and the disabled.
- Mauritius is a successful multicultural, multilingual, multiethnic and multireligious society that has not seen riots or wars as a result of this.
- Mauritius has a pretty tame police force, with no signs of forced disappearances.
Negatives
- Corruption in Mauritius is a widespread and growing problem. Their Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is considered to be corrupt as well, and in 2008 the Director of the Mauritius Customs Service revealed that he should remain quiet about the alleged corruption because if it were to become public, it could bring down the current government of Mauritius government.[1]
- In 1979 two ministers of the ruling Labour Party (Mauritius) government (Badry and Dabee) were dismissed following an enquiry led by Victor Glover (judge) in alleged corruption.
- In 1989 several politicians were arrested in England and the Netherlands for drug trafficking and money laundering.
- In 1994 the Minister of Energy was fired after buying gas turbines for the state electric grid from a company that bribed him.
- In 1999 the Minister of Social Security was arrested for taking bribes.
- In 2001 the Economic Crime Office was dismantled after it was exposed that several ministers and CEOs had been acting very corrupt, this led to the creation of the ICAC.
- In 2003 the former Housing and Lands Minister was arrested and charged with conspiracy to accept bribes
- In 2005 a politician was fired from politics after promising jobs in exchange for votes.
- In 2007 a local government worker was arrested after giving market stalls to drug dealers.
- In 2010 there was a corruption scandal involving the construction of a new hospital, as the government bought land owned by family members of politicians.
- In 2013 it was exposed that a Dutch dredging company was fined after bribing port several officials in exchange for a contract to dredge ports around Mauritius.
- In 2014, it was revealed that the government had allocated state-owned land to activists and allies of the dominant political party for construction.
- In 2016 the Minister of the Environment was exposed for taking bribes in exchange for approving construction projects.
- In 2016 it was alleged by a computer company that all government contracts required bribes to obtain.
- In 2016 much of the government gave themselves and allies directors in the state broadcasting authority, often handing out jobs to those who gave bribes.
- In 2017, a politician gave a contract to supply food to government organisations to his daughter in a scandal known as "Biscuitgate".
- In 2018 the President resigned after it turned out she had taken a credit card from an Angolan banker who wanted to expand into Mauritius.
- In 2020 it was found that the government took bribes in exchange for contracts to help work on improvements to the countries electric grid.
- Trade unionists reported cases of forced labor during the year among migrant workers involving passport confiscation, underpayment of wages, substandard living conditions, lack of clearly defined work titles, denial of meal allowances,and deportation. As of November 1, there were an estimated 39,500 migrant workers in the country, mainly from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, China, and Madagascar.
Major Social Struggles
- 1937: Uba Strike
- 1971: Port Strikes
- 1975: Student Revolt
- 1999: Riots
- 2006: Abbatoir Strike