ON July 26 this year people living on the south-east coast of Mauritius woke up to a shocking and frightening sight: a ship had run aground on the coral reef less than 1km from the beach of Pointe d’Esny. 

The MV Wakashio — a Japanese bulk carrier ship registered in Panama and on its way from China to Brazil — had entered Mauritian territorial waters and drifted until it hit the coral reef. 

In addition to its own fuel it was carrying 4,000 tons of fuel. It is thought that at least 1,000 tons of oil was spilled in the lagoon.

To most people Mauritius evokes images of “paradise,” with its clear blue seas, white sandy beaches, friendly people, fantastic food and good rum. The ultimate luxury holiday destination. 

Pointe d’Esny ticks most of these boxes and much more. This part of the island has remained largely unspoilt by the development of luxury hotels which thousands of tourists flock to throughout the year, making tourism one of the main industries of the island. This part of the Island is also one of the most deprived.

I have to declare an interest: I am Mauritian. My grandparents hail from Mahebourg which is the next town from Pointe d’Esny, a couple of kilometres away along the coast. 

My father spent his early years in Mahebourg. Less than two years ago I spent some time in Pointe d’Esny and most days I would go for a walk on the pristine beach early in the morning. 

I would come across the odd jogger or fisherman coming back with his catch from the lagoon or off the reef. 

But what I most enjoyed was seeing rare sea creatures while avoiding stepping on the hundreds of starfish hurriedly burying themselves in the sand as the tide receded. 

Coral reefs, seagrass and mangroves make Mauritian waters extraordinarily rich in biodiversity. 

According to the UN Convention on Marine Life, the Mauritian marine environment is home to some 1,700 species including 800 types of fish, 17 kinds of marine mammals and two species of turtles.

The region of Pointe d’Esny is known as a sanctuary for rare wildlife. It contains wetlands designated as a site of international importance by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

A short boat ride away lies Ile aux Aigrettes — a tiny coral island which is a nature and wildlife conservation site where they have achieved the restoration of endemic trees and the reintroduction of rare species of birds and mammals that had long disappeared from the island.

Blue Bay Marine Park on the other side of Pointe d’Esny was designated as a Ramsar wetland site in 2008. 

It is recognised for its exceptional underwater seascape with diverse fauna and flora, especially its coral diversity.

Mauritians love, fear and above all respect the sea. It provides food, employment, enjoyment for tourists as well as Mauritians. 

People immediately understood the threat posed by the ship that had washed up on their doorstep. 

They realised there was a real risk of an oil spill and the damage this would do to the ecosystem and everyday life. 

Alarm bells were raised and bodies responsible for eco and other environmental concerns put in motion contingency plans developed for such a disaster.

But the government seemed not to be as as concerned, or appeared extremely calm in the situation. 

Ministers claimed there was nothing to worry about and that it was safe, especially as there had been no breach of the ship’s hull, thus no danger of an oil spill. 

A special committee was set up to oversee the accident and assess the situation. 

It sought help and assistance abroad and France responded immediately, sending experts from Reunion Island some 200km away. 

Eventually in the face of vocal criticism and under pressure from opposition parties, the prime minister explained that the country does not have the experts, expertise or appropriate equipment to deal with such a situation. 

In addition they had to wait for the go-ahead from the insurers — Lloyds of London and the salvers before they could board the ship. 

The crew were airlifted to safety and quarantined under the Covid-19 rules in place.

But two days after the ship had run aground local people observed oil residues on the shore. 

They knew that somewhere, somehow, oil was beginning to spill. On August 6, 12 days after the Wakashio hit the reef, it began to spill its deadly oil cargo. There had been a breach of the hull.

Immediately a massive mobilisation of volunteers and helpers was initiated by local groups and NGOs. 

Working day and night, people from all over the country, young and old, responded to the call for help and by their thousands. 

Volunteers could be seen making oil booms using dried sugar cane leaves sewing them by hand and using plastic containers as floats.

People donated their hair when it was found out that human hair is a fantastic asborbent of oil. 

Hotels and tourists joined in either to make the booms, donate protective equipment, provide food and sustenance to the volunteers or skim the oil that was rapidly reaching the shore.

Although eventually most of the oil was pumped out, at least 1,000 tons were spilled in the lagoon.

The Prime Minister, Pravind Jugnauth, was spectacularly absent from the scene. But when he was challenged at the lack of action by his government, his responses earned him the nickname “Pinokio.”

For example, his excuses that the ship could not be stabilised because of bad weather were immediately debunked as satellite information proved this was not so. 

During these 12 days the mood towards the prime minister and the government turned as dark as the oil coming out of the Wakashio. People simply no longer believed the government.

People started openly to criticise him and his government and the last straw probably came when he declared that volunteers had to stop helping as there were “undesirable” elements among them. 

Unfortunately for Pinokio Jugnauth, an individual by the name of Bruneau Laurette became very involved in the mess. 

He is a marine security expert and also a local community and social activist. This became his new cause and challenge. 

Because of his professional background he was key in exposing a lot of the lies the government was spewing backed up with evidence.  

He became the conduit for the anger and frustration that people had been harbouring for a long time and a leader of a movement for those who were no longer scared to speak out and were looking for action.

In the meantime a whistleblower working for the port authority angry at what he heard managed to make a film of the equipment held to handle such a disaster. 

He shared the information with a local TV station and soon the images of specialist equipment the country “did not have” were all over social media.

Mauritius became a republic in 1968 after gaining its independence from Britain in 1966. 

It is a democracy. It has a parliament — the National Assembly, which is based on the Westminster model. Elections take place every five years. It has no second chamber. 

The president is elected by parliament and is head of state but the country is run by a prime minister who is head of government.

It operates a system of first past the post with additional seats for the “best loser.”

Politics are dominated by four main parties: Mouvement Socialiste Militant (MSM) currently holding a majority and forming the government, Labour (PTr), Mauritian Social and Democratic Party (PMSD) and Mouvement Militant Mauricien (MMM).

There are a number of other smaller parties. Unfortunately, most of these parties are controlled by dynasties.

The current prime minister first held the post when his father stood down as leader of the party and PM and handed over to his son. (His party, MSM, won the elections in 2019). Navin Ramgoolam (PTr) whose father led the country to independence, still heads the party, although he failed to get elected in the last two general elections.

The PMSD is led by the son of one of its most charismatic leaders. The MMM has been led by Paul Beranger since he set it up in the late ’60s.

Mauritius has an extremely diverse population of 1.3 million. The majority (around 70 per cent) are from the Indian subcontinent and are Hindu or Tamil, with a smaller number of Muslims. 

Creoles, descendants of Afro-Malagasy slaves, make up about 25 per cent; there are  Franco-Mauritians — ie descendants of the French landowners — and a small Chinese community from south China. 

We are proud of our multiculturalism, diversity of ethnicity and religion. But we are also a very divided society — based on class and ethnic/religious background. 

This goes back to the colonial days, the result of imperialism and the divide and rule at which the British excelled.

These divisions become most acute when there are elections — local as well as national, with some parties exploiting ethnic and religious differences for votes. 

In 2014 the MSM swept to power soundly beating Labour, vowing to rid the country of corruption, nepotism, abuse of power and mismanagement of the country. 

Sadly, nothing much has changed. Allegations of corruption at the highest level are still prevalent, cronyism is even worse and the country is nearly bankrupt as it is in hock to a number of states in order to finance promises made during the elections. 

When it comes to abuse of power it is said that Mauritius is a borderline police state. 

Repressive laws have been introduced and people are being arrested in dawn raids without arrest warrants. 

Freedom of expression is under serious threat as people critical of the government even on social media can end up being pulled out of bed by the police for criticising the government or prime minister. 

A Freedom of Information Act promised before the election is nowhere to be seen and some media outlets seemed to have been barred from the prime minister’s press conferences because of their constant reminders about this promise.

There is also a lot of discontent about the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in relation to the quality of PPE and the procurement process introduced under Covid emergency laws. 

It would seem that this enabled many closely associated with the government to fill their coffers.

The handling — or rather non-handling — of the Wakashio disaster was the last straw for many and for young people in particular. 

They took to social media to voice their anger and dissatisfaction and frustration. They became empowered and increasingly used social media to vent their anger and freely express their views. They no longer feared the police.

People of all backgrounds came together to expose the government as they did to try and minimise the damages of the oil spill. 

But it was not limited to Wakashio. Pretty quickly people were openly pointing out their anger, frustration and dissatisfaction with a host of actions by the government.

Bruneau Laurette was able to use the strength of this new mood to take on the government and in turn inspired more people to stand up and speak out. 

He played a pivotal role in showing that people do have power when they come together and act collectively. 

This is how he came to organise a public march and demonstration that would bring people together so they could openly demonstrate their anger and make their voices heard.

The last straw was probably when, a few days before the demonstration, a number of dolphins washed up dead or dying not far from the oil spill area. 

It is not yet known what caused the deaths — 42 at the last count. 

The demonstration took place on August 29. It was a demonstration and march of the citizens. 

Almost all opposition parties supported it and accepted the fact that it was not a political demonstration. 

Attendance figures vary from 150,000 to 158,000. It was undeniably the biggest demonstration the country has ever seen. 

It was attended by all, regardless of colour, class or religion. Women, men, old and young, children and disabled people came together and had very simple but clear demands: the prime minister must go and take his cronies with him. 

They’d had enough and they wanted the government out. They were fed up with lies, incompetence and cronyism. 

There were solidarity demonstrations from the Mauritian diaspora all over the world. 

It was a demonstration that united all the people behind common demands regardless of party political allegiance. 

No prime minister in Mauritius has ever faced such anger from so many.

Placards and slogans were clear: people were there as Mauritians, not as defined by their ethnic origin. They spoke in one Mauritian voice. It is the first time that Mauritians have so openly declared their identity as Mauritian. 

This was an unprecedented event which took many by surprise as they never thought that Mauritians were capable of such public and direct commitment and action. 

It has emboldened and inspired many. Above all, young people can see that they can do something if they want change. 

They have been fed up with the “dinosaurs” running the political parties and successive governments. The government made a major mistake by ignoring the voice of the younger generation. 

This is an extraordinary development and one which will now be followed by another demonstration on September 12 in Mahebourg and later on another event is planned on the western side of the island with music and entertainment. 

People want an end to corruption, political dynasties, lies, cronyism, mismanagement. They want a better society, social justice and equality for all. They want a future. 

Unfortunately it took something as catastrophic as the Wakashio oil spill to give people the courage to stand up to the bullies in government. 

This is a wake-up call not just for the current government but for all political parties. 

They can no longer take people for granted. The younger generation has woken up and discovered its power. 

It is difficult to see how the clock can be turned back. After 50 years of independence a Mauritian identity is finally seeing the day — free of all colonial vestiges.