In September this year, Madagascar, one of Africa’s countries with a rich history of colonialism, culture, tradition, heritage, and anti-colonial struggles, recently experienced a mass youth-led protest called the ‘Gen Z Madagascar protest’. It was later joined by students, trade unions, military soldiers, some traditional leaders, and the police.

The protest stemmed from water and electricity outages, and the demands grew to include corruption, academic exclusion at the institutions of higher learning, abject poverty, the high cost of living, andultimately a call for the resignation of then-Malagasy President Andrey Rajoelina, who had been president since 2018 until October 2025. Some protesters in the capital city, Antananarivo, carried placards with messages like “Rajoelina and Macron (current President of France) out” and “France out”.

These calls reveal how France, as a former coloniser, continues to influence Madagascar through its leaders, including Rajoelina. However, Colonel Michael Randrianirina of the military unit at the Army Personnel Administration Centre (CAPSAT) became President of Madagascar, and he claims that his ascension to power “wasn’t a coup; it was a case of taking responsibility because the country was on the brink of collapse”.

I argue that the current situational social upheaval in Madagascar necessitates a metaphysical analysis and a blend of modern and indigenous approaches to peace-building within the context of decolonisation, because some African spiritual and indigenous leaders although accepting the tangible problems that bedevil the country, they mainly and intangibly attribute the Malagasy social upheaval to the invocation of the spirits of their ancestors who were killed during the struggle for independence and against colonisation of the island nation.

However, some researchers squarely attribute challenges to the existential realities of the French government’s colonial influence over the country’s internal affairs and the perennial colonial economic structure that continues to reproduce social inequalities, abject poverty, an exclusive system of governance and poor service delivery for more than 30 million of the country’s population.

African spiritual and indigenous leaders base their analysis and conclusions on the recent sequence of events in Madagascar. More than six months ago, French President Emmanuel Macron visited Madagascar for the first time since the last presidential visit 20 years ago. Macron travelled to Madagascar seemingly to strengthen diplomatic and economic ties between the two nations.

It is alleged that Macron realised that, for more than a decade, the Malagasy government, the state of the African diaspora movement, and the Sakalava ethnic group in Madagascar have been requesting the French government to return the skulls of their King Toera of the Sakalava people and his two fellow traditional leaders, who were killed in August 1897 for fighting for independence and against colonisation of their country, especially at the western coast of Madagascar.

Macron then decided to diplomatically leverage that request to negotiate a better economic deal for France at the expense of the impoverished country. It is stated that the skulls of the Sakalava people, known as the people of the Long Valley, have been kept in a French museum in Paris as symbols of trophies and victory against Africans who resisted colonialism in their country; however, on September 3, 2025, the three skulls arrived in Madagascar, where the Sakalava kingdom of Menabe performed a spiritual ritual to reconnect them with their ancestors.

According to Gillian Freeley-Harnik, “the Sakalava of western Madagascar, history is a powerful embodiment of the royal ancestors who constitute the foundation of their system of government”. It is therefore believed that Rajoelina and his government faced trouble because of both poor service delivery and bartering deals with the spirits of the fallen heroes and heroines of the indigenous people.

The Sakalava kingdom in Madagascar’s Menabe region on the western coast was among the earliest to govern the country. This kingdom was founded in the 16th century and remained in power until the 18th century. It is a product of migration and immigration from Madagascar’s central highlands, Southeast Asia, East Africa, India, and other parts of the world. The kingdom gained strength and influence through its strategic geographic location and trade with foreign nations, particularly Portugal, followed by Britain, France, and others.

Before the arrival of Europeans, various tribes and kingdoms used indigenous methods of conflict resolution and peace-building to embrace co-existence, such as forming alliances and engaging in inter- and intra-tribal strategic marriages to promote unity.  Dr David Mohale is correct to argue that “there was a time in history when human beings (Africans) coexisted peacefully because they all had equal access to basic needs. There was a time when they would work together to devise instruments of production in order to achieve collective access to food and drink produced by nature.”

In his 1958 novel “Things Fall Apart”, Chinua Achebe succinctly elucidates how the British government destroyed the African kingdoms, cultures, and values of solidarity of the Umufiaand Abame villages of the Igbo tribe, to the extent that Africans began to fight each other, undermine and reject their own culture and heritage.

The unity of the Malagasy tribes was broken when European traders traded with Africans and sponsored certain kingdoms with weapons to fight others. This eroded the values of Ubuntu and solidarity that defined the governance of African kingdoms. At some point, the Sakalava kingdom fought against the Merina Kingdom for resources and trade with Europeans. During this time, the British government decided to support the Merina, which ultimately defeated the Sakalava in the 18th century and took control of the country from the Sakalava tribe.  

These Malagasy kingdoms’ infighting weakened Africans’ ability to fight and resist colonialism, and France took advantage of divisions within traditional leadership and population. It fought and defeated the kingdom of Merina in 1883. In 1896, it officially colonised Madagascar and killed King Toera of the Sakalava and his right-hand men for resisting colonialism in the following year after colonisation.

It is important to note that the Sakalava kingdom strongly believe that elders are superior to young people, but that the ancestors are superior to everyone, including the kings. Apparently, after every five years in September, the Sakalava people perform a ritual called famadihana (turning of the bones of the dead), reconnecting the spirits of the living and that of the dead; therefore, for 128 years they have been waiting for the skulls of their leaders and in the very September this year, a ritual was performed and three weeks later, protests broke out in the country which the traditional leaders believe it was cause by both the tangible and intangible challenges.

Reports indicate that modern technological devices failed to verify whether the repatriated skulls indeed belong to King Toera and the other two individuals. However, confirmation was achieved through customary rites performed by the Sakalava tribe, led by elders and Prince Harea Kamamy, the great-grandson of Toera.

Due to a general lack of confidence in African tradition and culture, the media in Africa and abroad often refer to the three skulls as ‘presumed’ or ‘believed’ to be those of King Toera and others. But had the genetics been verified by modern science and technology, certainly the media would be reporting with certainty. After his years in diaspora, W.E.B. Du Bois returned to Ghana in October 1961 and said: “I have returned that my dust (bones) shall mingle with the dust (bones) of my forefathers (ancestors), there is not much time left for me.”

I contend that the Malagasy indigenous voice is needed in the peace-building process because African indigenous methods of mediation are commended for restoring broken relationships and for embracing reconciliation, forgiveness, and social dialogue to promote social harmony and co-existence.  

The reality is that violent conflict and coups have been perennial in Madagascar because Western approaches to peace-building, which embrace retributive rather than restorative justice, have not restored lasting peace.

I therefore call on all mediators, especially the African Union and the Southern African Development Community, to integrate both indigenous and modern or contemporary methods into African-led, people-centred peace-building in Madagascar. Africans can be united by their common history of slavery, colonialism, cultural identity and shared heritage.

* Orapeleng Matshediso is a master’s graduate of Pan African Development Studies and a Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg (Institute for Pan African Thought and Conversation).

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media. 

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