Mauritian Sugar Factory Owners in Zimbabwe Face Possible Eviction

The presence of Mauritian sugar factory owners in Zimbabwe, especially in the district of Chiredzi, a sugar producing region is no longer appreciated, and the Zimbabwean government has made it clear that these people should leave the country.

In an urgent message sent to the government of Mauritius, the Franco-Mauritian owners (Mauritians of French descent) have asked for the intervention of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Madan Dulloo. They argue that they had been invited by that country to help develop the sugar industry even when Zimbabwe, then known as Southern Rhodesia, was still a British colony and consider the attitude of the Mugabe regime to be unjust and unacceptable.

They added that their children were born and grew up in that country and consider themselves to be Zimbabweans.

The factory owners also complain that they have never received any help from the Zimbabwean authorities despite a bilateral agreement to protect investors that was signed between Mauritius and the Zimbabwean government.

Madan Dulloo confirmed to journalists on Thursday morning at his office, in Port Louis, the capital that indeed an urgent message has reached his office last week, but declined to say by what means. He only explained that he did not want to put the life of those Mauritians in Zimbabwe in danger.

Dulloo indicated that he was in constant touch with the Mauritians and that negotiations were being carried out with countries neighboring Zimbabwe to try to find a solution to the problem.

There were some 40 Mauritian families who were cultivating sugarcane in the Chiredzi region in 2002, but only four families are still operating there. These families are however said to be living with the fear that they may be attacked and their factories taken.

One of the remaining Mauritian families recently had a visit from the administrator of the district of Chiredzi who was accompanied by a high ranking police officer and a hostile crowd with an eviction order in his hands.

Fortunately for the family however, they had a court order which forbids any acquisition of their property by the state. Therefore, the expulsion of the family has been delayed for the time being.

Source African Press Agency

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