Madagascar’s university: Ruin, revolt

THERE was a stagnant puddle in the hallway of the university residence that opened only two years ago, but the rainy season had not yet started in Madagascar.

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“Come see our dormitories,” student Ulric Sambizafy offered at one of a wave of protests that have rocked the Indian Ocean island nation since September 25.

Trash floated in an open-air wastewater drain two metres from his back door.

“During the rainy season, we'll have sewage up to here,’ said the 24-year-old master’s student in renewable energy, pointing to his mid-calf. “That's what justifies our revolt,’ he said.

Originally from eastern Madagascar, Sambizafy is among the educated Malagasy youth swelling the ranks of the Gen Z movement behind the protests that led parliamentarians to vote to impeach President Andry Rajoelina on Tuesday and an elite military unit to seize power.

The building in Ankatso, a neigh-bourhood in the capital Antananarivo, was only opened in 2023 but cracks and leaks reveal major construction defects.