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Join on Telegram Fez – A number of activists and politicians in the spiritual capital of Morocco, Fez, have denounced local authorities’ demolition of Bab Rcif, one of the iconic gates of the city’s medina (ancient or old quarter).
According to the municipality of Fez, what was believed to be a “historical” gate in the city was demolished in order to build an underground parking lot with a capacity of up to 50 vehicles, as part of the renovation program that the city is conducting in the medina.
Since the gate was until recently a major tourist and economic attraction for both locals and foreigners, its demolition has caused great controversy among the local population.
‘Not a historical monument’
Requesting anonymity for fear of reprisal, a local official told Morocco World News that the demolished gate is not considered one of the city’s archaeological monuments. The gate, the official argued, “was designed and built during the era of the former mayor of Fez, Hamid Chabat, who chaired the city council between 2003 and 2015.”
Also declining to be named, another official from the Fez medina prefecture told MWN that the area around the gate has been popular with tourists since its construction, but the crowds have made it difficult to find parking for those who want to reach the entrance to the medina.
Visitors would park their cars and tour buses far from the main entrance and walk for at least 15 minutes to reach their desired destination, the source explained.
A third local official echoed the same sentiment while also speaking on condition of anonymity. The creation of an underground parking lot will give the area an elegant look, allowing visitors easy access to Fez’s antique shops, as they can comfortably stroll through the city’s streets, especially the medina’s narrow pathways, the official claimed.
But the accounts of the three officials, which of course reflect the local authorities’ justification for what they want to present as the necessity to demolish the iconic gate, are not convincing or credible enough for many locals and Fez natives.
Fez doesn’t need ‘useless and wasteful’ rehabilitation projects
Rim Chabat, an MP and daughter of former Fez mayor Hamid Chabat, furiously took to Facebook to lambast the demolition of Bab Rcif as “useless and a misuse of public funds.”
But the furious MP appeared to confuse Bab Rcif, the demolished, much younger gate with Bab Sid L’Aouad, a much older, more ancient monument. The MP explained that the demolition of Bab Sid L’Aouad [sic] for the construction of a parking lot with a capacity of 50 cars was an unpleasant surprise to her and to the rest of Fez residents, especially the merchants of the medina. Even more outrageous is that the city lost a considerable amount of money on this project, she lamented.
“Instead of demolishing one of the city’s major tourist attractions, the authorities should have considered rehabilitating the Rcif Square in order to facilitate access to the old city of Fez,” Rim Chabat said, adding that such a measure “would have created a renewed space to revive trade and tourism in the area.”
As far as the MP is concerned, “the funds used for the demolition could have been allocated to integrate and accompany street vendors in order to maintain the economic flow at the old city’s entrance.”
The local authorities’ driving narrative is that the demolition of the gate was necessary to add elegance and accessibility to the Fez medina. For Rim Chabat, however, “this project is useless and must be reconsidered.”
In her Facebook post, the outraged MP especially deplored the fact that “the construction of a parking lot where the gate stands was conducted without prior study of the floods that might hit suddenly and cause material and human losses.”
The city’s former mayor and Rim’s father, Hamid Chabat, also joined the outcry against the decision to demolish an iconic gate that he seemed to argue had become the unofficial symbol of Fez.
Also mistaking Bab Sid L’Aouad for Bab Rcif, he said the destruction of the gate would damage the overall aesthetics and significance of Rcif Square, and urged local authorities to stop what he described as an assault on the human heritage of Fez’s historic medina.
A long history of poor local governance
Local authorities should stop wasting public funds on projects that do not benefit the population of the ancient medina, Chabat said, somehow unwittingly using the same line of reasoning that his critics have often invoked when lambasting his “wasteful” mayorship.
According to many local residents, Fez was a hotbed of corruption, embezzlement, and patronage when Chabat was mayor. Many interpret Chabat’s sudden resignation in 2015 as an attempt to escape accountability for his suspicious political tenure as Mayor of Fez.
In statements to Moroccan and international media over the years, Fez residents have appeared to overwhelmingly agree that the former mayor destroyed the city’s historical monuments and its national value as Morocco’s academic, spiritual and touristic capital.
Whether or not Chabat’s highly decried mayorship laid the foundations for the current state of what was once Morocco’s shining and appealing spiritual capital, the fact remains that corruption and embezzlement of public funds have become a distinct feature of local leadership in Fez.
There are still many captivating historical symbols and attention-grabbing gateways in Fez, especially in the city’s fascinating media. In fact, most of Fez’s cultural symbols are recognized worldwide as architectural treasures.
Nevertheless, the city has not been able to develop into the popular tourist destination and cultural hub that it deserves to be because of a lack of forward-thinking municipal leadership. Talking to local residents and activists, the prevailing feeling is that Fez has long punched below its weight in the eyes of many citizens due to corrupt and poor leadership.
