2023-12-03 20:43:57
Mayotte is still desperately awaiting the precipitation marking the start of the rainy season. So much so that the prefecture could take new restrictions, while the water at the tap is already cut off two days out of three. “The situation is getting worse day by day and it’s worse than we can imagine”, alarm Racha Mousdikoudine, president of the Mayotte a soif collective. She tells these “human lives in danger” : of the “children who drink water from wells”disabled people excluded from the distribution of free bottles, or “underage mothers who prostitute themselves to buy food for their babies”because they are unable to use water for their food.
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Ms. Mousdikoudine spoke these words before the Mayotte administrative court on November 24. In preparation for several weeks, procedures have been launched before different courts. They call into question the failures of local public authorities and the Mahoraise Water Company (SMAE), as well as the lack of vigilance and anticipation of the State.
This new stage in the water crisis first took the form of two interim reliefs filed by Mayotte a soif, the association fighting against climate change Our business to all and seventeen applicants. One before the administrative court of Mayotte against the prefecture, and the other before the Council of State, against the government, to demand the triggering of an Orsec drinking water plan adapted to Mayotte, as well as a plan for “put an end to the crisis of access to water, humanitarian, educational and environmental issues as quickly and sustainably as possible”.
At the hearing in Mayotte, the applicants’ lawyer denounced a “day to day management”, of the “violations of fundamental rights”. “We don’t know what the prefecture will do when the water has completely dried up”, worries Me Eric Dugoujon.
“Discriminatory prism”
Both the Council of State and the Mayotte judge rejected the requests. This crisis “reveals a certain number of failures in the organization and management of the service in charge of water management for several years”, however, underlines the administrative court. Nevertheless, “Faced with these deficiencies, state services have taken emergency measures.” The applicants “do not demonstrate that the measures of the Orsec plan would be more suitable than those currently implemented by the prefect of Mayotte”, adds the summary judge. The two associations launched an appeal criticizing the “deficiency” of State “visibly marked by a discriminatory prism against overseas citizens”.
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