Government Response to Madagascar Protests Highlights the Urgency of Youth-Led Movements Across Africa

To be a young person in Africa is to navigate constantly and fully appreciate the systemic hurdles that complicate evolving into adulthood. It’s a collective dawning that has sparked more youth-led demonstrations in countries across the continent, making radical demands of their leaders. This is evident in Madagascar, where the youth have refused President Andry Rajoelina’s offer of a national dialogue amidst countrywide protests on the island nation over the past two weeks.

The rejection is tied to the government’s brutal crackdown on the demonstrations since its beginning, with security forces harassing and assaulting protesters with deadly force. At least 22 deaths have been recorded. The protests, which have been raging since late September, underpin a larger conversation about widespread disillusionment with governance across the continent.

“We reject this mockery of dialogue,” the representative group known as Gen Z Mada noted in their statement. “We will not engage in dialogue with a regime that represses, assaults, and humiliates its youth in the streets.”

The protests initially started as a way for young people to vent their frustrations with water and electricity shortages across Madagascar. On September 25, thousands of young people attempted to gather at the Democracy Square in Ambohijatovo, which is symbolic for being the spot where Rajoelina led political rallies to demand the resignation of his predecessor, Marc Ravalomanana. Protesters were met by a heavy police presence across access points leading to the square, with officers in riot gear armed with rubber bullets and teargas.

With the government’s cruel response, the protests have morphed into an expression of deep grievances with the high levels of corruption and poor governance in the country. The movement is now calling for Rajoelina’s resignation.

In a bid to placate protesters, Rajoelina sacked Prime Minister Christian Ntsay and dissolved his cabinet. However, he’s now replaced Ntsay with an army general, Ruphin Fortunat Zafisambo, while also appointing new ministers for defense and public security, tasking them with restoring public order. These appointments, particularly Zafisambo’s, haven’t been well received by Malagasy youth, while observers see the move as a way for the president to get the military on his side.

“The young people protesting are not happy about it because they demanded that the president step down, and not for a new prime minister,” Hary, a university student in the capital city Antananarivo, tells OkayAfrica. “This new prime minister was actually the military director to the old prime minister, so it is still the same people all over [again].”

The Irony of Leadership: Rajoelina's Past and Present

There’s something of an irony in the protesters demanding the resignation of Rajoelina, whose own protests led to his predecessor’s eventual exit from office. The accusations of gross corruption against Rajoelina and members of his government are similar to the claims the incumbent leveled against Ravalomanana back in the late 2000s. The former president handed power to the army in 2009, who in turn handed over to Rajoelina to lead a transitional government until 2014.

Rajoelina returned to power after winning the 2018 elections. In his time in office, he’s been criticized for failing to improve living conditions, with 75% of the population living below the poverty line and just about a third of the population with access to electricity. Under the circumstances, multiple corruption scandals have rocked his government, with him and his officials seen living lavish lifestyles.

“What I want in a functional society is actually a stop of corruption,” Hary says. “If the government is made up of people with actual degrees and good intentions to make the country better, I think it would change a lot of things in Madagascar.” Like many Malagasy youth, he sees the current government as an obstacle to plans to build and live a meaningful life free of low-level problems.

Hary also states his disappointment with the government’s engagement with protesters, which bears a dismissive undertone due to the protests being led by young people. “The president decided to remove the entire government, and that was actually considered a positive response for us, like we have a real voice in national politics, but that doesn’t stop what we want,” he says.

“We get millions and millions of dollars from international bodies for years, but nothing is working, so we wish for all of this money to go to the right things and not just anonymous accounts in Panama or Switzerland or inside the politicians’ pockets. I think it is the same for most protests around the world, young people wishing for less corruption in Nepal, Indonesia, and the Philippines, in Morocco and Kenya too.”

In addition to his half measures, Rajoelina has since called the demonstrations an attempted coup by his opponents. It’s akin to Kenyan President William Ruto’s stance, accusing protesters of attempting a coup. This was in the wake of demonstrations that rocked the country following the death of blogger and teacher Albert Ojwang in police custody in June year. More protests followed, with many citizens expressing discontent with the country’s rising cost of living, echoing the same concerns as last year’s demonstrations, which stemmed from a widely rejected finance bill.

These series of protests were all met with force by state security and even the alleged support of thugs in some cases. Ruto eventually withdrew the bill, but only after the deaths of dozens of protesters and injuries to many more. He also made a show of dissolving his cabinet, only to reshuffle the government to include the same familiar faces, a move that didn’t go down well with the young Kenyans who took to the streets in hopes of seeing change.

The General Disillusionment of Young People Across Africa

“It’s a Gen Z Spring. We have seen our parents suffer, and we want more for ourselves,” protester Zaha Indimuli told OkayAfrica last year. The latter part of Indimuli’s statement has been a galvanizing force for many youth-led protests across Africa in the last decade-plus, from the seminal Arab Spring to #EndSARS in Nigeria to #StopGalamsey in Ghana.

This increasing civic participation is pertinent on a continent with nearly 60% of its population below 25 years old, who are living in dismal socioeconomic environments set by ineffective governments often led by old and/or longtime leaders obsessed with holding on to power.

Earlier this year, dozens were killed in Togo during protests against the adoption of a new constitution that essentially keeps Faure Gnassingbé in office in perpetuity. Gnassingbé, who’s led Togo since 2005, orchestrated a constitutional change last year where the leader of the executive is determined by the party with the most seats in parliament, a maneuver that bypasses the need for direct election. The change was widely condemned by many in Togo; however, it unfortunately passed through the legislature, dominated by the ruling party.

“Some of us were a little stunned by the process, so it wasn’t until it was implemented this year that we reacted,” Togolese researcher Promise A. tells OkayAfrica. “The government didn’t really expect the protests to hold because freedom of speech is so bad in our country, and young people have never really come out in numbers to complain about how things are going.”

Togolese protesters campaigned for Gnassingbé’s resignation, citing the country’s underdevelopment under his leadership and also his family’s perennial grip on power. In what critics described as a constitutional coup, Gnassingbé succeeded his father Gnassingbé Eyadema, who led Togo for almost 38 years before his death.

“I don’t think the government took us seriously because we’re young people, that’s why they just sent the police and army to us,” Promise A. says. “I feel like it’s because they’re older than us; they feel we shouldn’t be asking for anything, like we’re children. But we just want to have better opportunities because this is the time we have to build the life we want, and it’s really hard.”

In a similar vein, Moroccan youth have also taken to the streets to demand reforms that will improve their quality of life. The youth-led movement, known as GenZ 212, stemmed from the government’s plans to build new stadiums ahead of co-hosting the men’s football World Cup in 2030, amidst rising cost of living and poor public services.

Now in its eleventh day, protesters are clamoring for the government to prioritize improving the healthcare and education sectors and create more job opportunities for young people. Youth unemployment in Morocco has grown to nearly 36%, with unemployment among graduates at 19%.

“I want to build a family, buy a house. Why not? The problem is that the government does not provide us with guidance regarding our educational future,” 21-year-old Yasser Benayyad said to Africanews. “For example, I have a degree in biology, but I don’t know where I will be able to work. [We’re demanding] a comprehensive reform of education and health, and we want job opportunities to be created. This is why [we’re protesting], because we are Generation Z, we are in our twenties, we want a decent life, we want to build families.”