Committee for the Abolition of Illegitimate Debt

They were some fifteen demonstrators of this collective gathered in front of the premises of the CIM Finance to beat up and make audible the sound of the empty pots on this Friday, October 8, 2020. The choice of the place is in no way insignificant compared to the harassment of which some of the demonstrators indebted to this company claim to be victims. Ashok Subron, one of the leaders of the collective and member of Rezistans ek Alternativ promises other symbolic action of the same kind if the government does nothing to force the credit companies to a moratorium on the debts of people and businesses of the disaster areas of the Wakashio. The demonstrators specify that this action does not target only the company CIM Finance but all these credit institutions which despite Covid-19 and Wakashio are still striving to claim the amounts due without any compassion from the borrowers. Listening to the testimonies of Natasha, Christelle and Nathan, all three inhabitants of Mahébourg and working as an independent, the Wakashio came to give a final blow to their activity already in the throes of agony because of Covid-19 and the closing of borders.

This moratorium request comes at a time when the Mauritians, who have been massively demonstrating during recent weeks, are calling for more solidarity. A lack of solidarity from big companies that David Sauvage denounces. The ecological and political activist from Rezistans ek Alternativ contrasts the billions that the State through the MIC is granting to the largest companies of Mauritius to keep them afloat during this hard time. In fact, the Lux Resorts and Hotels group was the first to benefit from 1 billion rupees from this fund in September 2020, now followed by the Sun Resorts group with the trifle of 3.1 billion rupees. As a reminder, the companies that have benefited from this money are part of one of the most indebted sectors of Mauritius, which is the hotel industry, which in addition to that already benefit from the assistance of the State in this matter for wage assistance till at least December 2020.