Are there too many South Africans in Mauritius?
Recently my attention has been drawn to a blog post that has been causing a bit of a stir. The Captain, a South African-born Mauritian citizen has written a blog post called “Are there too many South Africans in Mauritius?”.
The post looks at the question that many SA expats have been faced with lately: Are there too many SA Expats, or any expats for that matter, living in Mauritius. Are locals feeling invaded?
Personally I have been confronted with this question on a few occasions. How have I answered? Well it’s a hard one. Firstly I need to decide if I see myself as Mauritian or South African. I was born in SA and my passport is south african, but I grew up and have lived on this island since I was 6. My second language is French, not Afrikaans. My parents are Mauritian citizens. At the same time, I cannot ignore my ties to South Africa either. I suppose I consider myself a hybrid. The Prius of the People, if you will…
In his article, the Captain says of the recent surge in new SA expats,
“The effect is that one hears and sees South Africans everywhere. The local Mauritian has that overrun feeling. It doesn’t help that South Africans are very often loud, brash and culturally dof when it comes to Mauritius…..a number of resident South Africans set at about 3000 which is about triple the pre-flood number.
Is this too many?
Ask any Mauritian and he will say there are too many South Africans in Mauritius. Ask any South African in Mauritius and he will ask ‘What’s the problem?’
The problem, in my personal view, is complex and mostly emotional.
I can totally understand the Mauritian who stands in his empty restaurant looking at the packed one run by a South African accross the road.
I can totally understand the Mauritian lawyer who sees new South African lawyers eating away at all the juicy corporate clients.
I can totally understand the Mauritian Estate Agent watching as the South African competitors engulf the market.
These and other South African success stories show the positive side of South African competition, raising the stakes, improving the service, doing stuff that wasn’t done in Mauritius.
Unless you are the loser in this competition…….The real problem is that it is now very easy to blame all bad things on South Africans. This helps us to give order to our Mauritian world. Politicians find it extremly convenient to blame these new settlers in Mauritius on a mulitude of ills and their electorate is only too pleased to agree.
The intellectual half of my brain acknowledges that South Africans have brought a lot of money, skills and ideas to Mauritius. The emotional half of my brain wants to kick some of them out, particularly the slow adjusters.”
The article has provoked a number of mixed emotions. Have a look at the comments. On one hand, people love the article, saying “Fabulous! I honestly think this is the best piece I have read in ages! Great! Great! Great!” while on the other hand the article has offended people, such as Anonymous who wrote, “…I believe you should withdraw your article and apologise to those South Africans presently in Mauritius trying to do what you did here 16 years ago…”
What do you all think? Has mauritius been overrun? Or is there room and opportunity for everybody?
Read the Captain’s full article here.
Xx Coco
Damn – better scrap my plans to come and visit then
I think this is a problem that almost every country faces (not that there are too many SAFA’s but foreigners in general) Just go to the UK and listed to the amount of bitching that goes on about how many Eastern Europeans there are… Go to Australia and listen to the complaints about the influx of Asian emigrants…hey even is South Africa there are loads of Zimbabweans, Congolese, and countless other African nationalities who flood the work force and make jobs harder to find.
This is a symptom of the global world – get over it, it aint going to change.
1I personally think there is room for everybody. Mauritius has always been a mix of people from different cultures. This has been the way for a long time, and by people who are originally from South Africa settling in Mauritius, I personally think this is a good thing as it will increase the diversity that is Mauritius.
Do you not speak Creole, as I would imagine that is the language which, no matter which part of Mauritius you go to, every one speaks.
Harish
2Did Dan read the article or the heading only? I believe the article to be fair, accurate and well written. I have lived on the island for a long time (originally South African) and have always found the locals to be warm and welcoming. Many South Africans who have come to live her have made a very valuable contribution to the economy, are not “in your face,” and respect the local way of life without too much whinging and complaining. The way of life here, the expat community and the locals are lekker! So Dan, please do come and visit. You will have a GREAT time!
3ha ha – sorry if I came across like I was ripping off the island, im very very keen to come and visit. In fact I plan to make it there within the next year if I can.
What I was trying to say is that the whole world has changed and the notion of who is a local and who isn’t needs to change too. Sure people have their nationalities but the world is too mobile and global for people to worry/bitch about the amount of ‘foreigners’ comming into a country… I think that everyone is capable of contributing to an economy. Me me a local is someone who lives there – regardless of their nationality. It if went by any other measurement then im a foreigner sitting here in cape town, heck so are the Xhosa… infact the San are the only true locals.
All im saying is the world is smaller than before and the question ‘are there too many foreigners in this country’ – and when I say country I talking about any country in the world – is a short sited and ultimately pointless question to ask…
Really looking forward to paying you all a visit…
Dan – the global nomad
4i am a relatively new arrival living in little South Africa(black river) and i must say that when i first arrived i was amazed at how many South Africans have chosen to make this beautiful country their home. Whilst i am still in the process of learning french, with all the visitors and a small baby to look after this is taking longer than i hoped, i think most of the South Africans here are making a positive contribution. My husband employs 200 locals and growing, in his company. My friends and i are organizing a charity do for a local orphanage early next year. We have clean the beach days regularly and at my birthday bash recently there were a good smattering of locals in amongst the admittedly mainly south african guests. ive been to three hindu weddings already, which seems to be more then the local french people ive encountered.And with our can do positive attitude, it will make everyone up their game, which in a country growing rapidly like Mauritius, can only be a good thing
5Hi, 3,200 (I thought it was higher) vs a population of 1.2 million is only 0.26% which is minute. Go to London and try and find a Londoner? Happy hunting.
6I’m a mauritian by birth,(unfortunately), i left with my parents at he age of 10, for SA. Completed my schooling and military training there. After 41years in SA. i decided to come ”home”, due to the unfortunate crime rate in SA. It had been my dream for years, to come and make a life in my own country.Well! after just 3 years, i am packing up and rushing back to THE most beautiful land on earth. Mauritius is beautiful,,,it’s just a pity the ”franco’s ” are such a bunch of idiots.. Without the white mauritians, Mauritius would be THE best. I cannot give my reasons as i still have some family here,,and i do know of 1 decent friendly family,,,,,,but the rest,,,,,you can keep your backward ways.
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