Version imprimableMiala Rajoelina! (Rajoelina out!)
A recurring problem but one that is getting worse. These difficulties stem from a lack of investment and maintenance of the networks of Jirama, the company in charge of distribution. But they also come from embezzlement for which one of the main culprits is Mamy Ravatomanga, the country’s second richest person and the president’s éminence grise.
The demonstrators were not mistaken. Very quickly, the demands evolved to demand Rajoelina’s resignation, but also the dissolution of the Senate, the High Constitutional Court and the electoral commission, institutions synonymous with the corruption of the elites.
Rajoelina tried to defuse the crisis, but each time too late and too little. He sacked the energy minister, then resolved to dismiss his government and especially Prime Minister Christian Ntsay, a key part of the political apparatus of the president’s clan. Even his televised appearance announcing the dismissal turned ridiculous, when he addressed the young people, urging them to send their CVs for the establishment of the new government.
The mobilization is expanding
The struggle has, over time, spread across the country, affecting the main towns and cities. The desire of young people of Generation Z to expand the movement has become a reality. Political leaders of opposition parties, including former presidents Ravalomanana and Rajaonarimampianina, timidly gave their support. From them, there is nothing to expect, given their history of plundering the country’s resources. Civil society organizations have mobilized strongly against the repression of peaceful demonstrators, while the police let the gangs loot businesses. A strategy of chaos that aimed to rally at least part of the population, in vain.
The new fact is the mobilization of workers. A few days after the first demonstrations, Jirama employees went on strike, joined by the teachers’ union, SEMPAMA. Finally, Herizo Ramanambola, leader of the Solidarité trade union, called for a general strike, also demanding the resignation of the president.
Rajoelina, to hide his sixteen years of catastrophic power, now denounces a conspiracy hatched by “foreign powers or agencies with advanced technology” manipulating, thanks to algorithms, the youth. In short, “forces of darkness” that push young people into the streets... Unless it is the posts on social networks of the offspring of the Malagasy elites, who show off their golden life made possible by the plundered wealth of a country where three-quarters of the population live below the poverty line.
2 October 2025
Translated by International Viewpoint from l’Anticapitaliste.
