(Gabriel Hoareau – March 15, 1940 - January 28, 2023)   |30 January 2023

Seychelles loses iconic figure

•           Gabriel Hoarau, former priest and politician, dies at 82

Seychelles’ former priest and politician, Gabriel Hoarau, passed away on Saturday, at his home at Pointe Conan, aged 82.

Born on March 15, 1940, Mr Hoarau was ordained Roman Catholic priest on June 28, 1964, at the age of 24.

During his tenure he was known for attending to the less fortunate, including collecting and importing heaps of clothes and distributing them to people across the country.

His benevolent work was so popular, leading to the term coined ‘Lenz Per Hoarau’.

Mr Hoarau, affectionately known as Gaby by his friends, is also remembered as an ardent politician, who joined ‘Mouvement pour la Resistance’ (MPR) in the early 1980s in England, which later changed to Seychelles National Movement, (SNM). His fellow colleague and friend, Ralph Volcère, told Seychelles NATION that he met Mr Hoarau in 1982, while in exile in England, where they were both active in the London-based political movement, MPR, alongside renowned exiled opposition leader, Gerard Hoareau, who was later murdered in 1985.

Mr Volcère said it was Gaby who took over the leadership of the party when Gerard Hoarau was killed, becoming its president, “regardless if it was considered a dangerous position at the time, with lots of threats associated with it”.

He described Gabriel Hoarau as a “well-rounded, intelligent, funny and compassionate person who was always putting others before himself”.

He said his compassionate nature was always showing and he sacrificed a lot for his fellow colleagues and friends.

“One remarkable thing he would do, while we were in exile, was to spend as much time as he could with us. Gaby, who was living in Belgium at the time, would drive all the way from Belgium, boarding the ferry at Calais, France and came all the way to Hounslow, London, where the exiled Seychellois were living. This was a long, difficult trip and he did it monthly and never missed it,” said Mr Volcère.

With Seychelles’ return to multi-party system in 1991, Mr Hoarau brought the SNM back to the country and according to Mr Volcère, it was among one of the first parties after ‘Parti Seselwa’ to be registered, taking part in the first election.

SNM then dissolved in 1995 and amalgamated with other opposition parties that formed the United Opposition (UO) for the 1993 National Assembly election where Mr Hoarau stood as a candidate in the Anse Etoile electoral district. In 1998, he was the UO candidate for the electoral district of Anse Boileau. Mr Hoarau was a member of the party’s executive committee, before he retired from politics.

He was also a member of the Choral and Music Society of Seychelles, led by David Andre, which he joined in1997, at the time of its creation.

Mr Andre described Mr Hoarau, who performed ‘bass’, as a faithful man who never missed rehearsals on Tuesdays and contributed immensely towards the choral, participating in all concerts, both locally and internationally.

“I will remember him as a ‘bon vivant’, a person who loved music and anything artistic, an intelligent person who was refined. He was also a no-nonsense person,” he said.

Following the announcement of his death on Saturday, people took to social media to pay homage to Mr Hoarau. One post was from his fellow chorist from the Choral Music Society of Seychelles, Michel Nageon, who wrote that he had “lost a dear friend, a patriot and a larger-than-life character”. He described him as a “Seychellois par excellence, who put his life on the line for our freedom and everything we take for granted today”. Mr Nageon wrote that in private, Mr Hoarau was a “wonderful character, who would fill a room with fun, laughter and joy”.

Alain St Ange also paid tribute to Mr Hoarau through an article, where he gave a brief history of his life. He wrote that Mr Hoarau was active on the international scene, where he participated and was elected as a Member of the Concerned Citizens Committee at the United Democratic Movement’s (UDM) Munich Conference of 1991 that was called and organised by Dr Maxime Ferrari. He stated that Mr Hoarau was one of the resolution signatories at that specific Seychelles Munich Conference.

Mr Hoarau was also a member of the first Constitutional Appointment Authority from September 2000 to August 2007, and editor of the Roman Catholic Newspaper ‘L’Echo Des Iles’ for many years. He also published a ‘Guide Touristique Des Seychelles’ under the Edition Delroisse collection.

Seychelles NATION learned that Mr Hoarau died at home in the company of his close and long-time friend, Jeanne Hoareau, whom he had been living with for the past several years.

We would like to convey our heartfelt condolences to Mr Hoarau’s family and friends.

Patsy Canaya