All?s well that ends well. The municipality of Beau-Bassin-Rose Hill has complied with the request of some 30 illegal hawkers. They will set up their stalls at the beginning of Anquetil Promenade, on the same spot from where the police had driven them out the day before. This is a temporary decision until the building they are waiting for is ready in September.

After the police demolished their stalls as they were on an illegal area, some thirty hawkers decided to spend the night in front of the municipality to show their discontent. They did not find the place proposed by the municipality appropriate to them, saying they could not sell their wares properly.

This protest brings up once again the problem of hawkers. This is a national issue as all towns are plagued by it. Shopkeepers have asked the government to take action against hawkers, who compete unfairly with them but they say nothing concrete has been done so far. Some of them believe that the government protects hawkers.

Others have the impression that government has so far turned a deaf ear to their complaints. ?It is unconceivable that the authorities have done nothing so far, despite two probation orders of the Supreme Court in 1997 and 1998 to the municipality of Beau-Bassin-Rose Hill and to the superintendent with a view to putting some order in the town center and the hawkers? illegal activities?, says one of the shopkeepers.

The various municipalities have often confessed their incapacity to solve this situation. Former mayor of Beau-Bassin-Rose Hill, Gervais Lasplaces, explains: ?The hawkers? problem has a political aspect, on which we have no control.? The government imposes certain decisions and municipalities have no power to fight against them.

In order to find a solution without prejudice to anyone, the government has planned to invest more than Rs 250 million in a ?hawkers? palace? in Port-Louis. This would reduce congestion on the pavements of the capital and could house more than a thousand hawkers. The latter have welcomed the ?gift? the government is offering them.

However, some shopkeepers are afraid that this will put an end to ?traditional? shops. They pay higher taxes and can hardly compete with hawkers, who thus offer their wares at cheaper prices.

Human problem

The building under construction in Rose Hill to house hawkers is somewhat different. First, it will cost only Rs 6.2 million and the goal is not the same. As far as the municipality is concerned, the objective is to solve a human problem. Hawkers have been complaining they are too far from the town centre. The building near Rose-Hill market is the answer.

These two projects could in a way solve the problem of shopkeepers. Hawkers would no longer be in front of their shops attracting their potential customers. At the same time it will help hawkers to do their jobs legally without fear of eviction by the police anymore.

Last but not least, it might benefit everybody. Hawkers are in a way part and parcel of Mauritian folklore and tourists enjoy shopping with them. Moreover, they do not always make our towns cleaner as they leave their rubbish on the streets and give a bad impression of the country. If all hawkers are inside one building, things might be more organized and cleanliness could be one of the key words there.