Lesotho Water Project / Articles

This op-ed in the UK Guardian argues that while Africa's huge barrages are meant to create energy and clean water, the poorest communities are the losers in the race for the rewards.

For too long, the World Bank has invested in grandiose projects that do little or nothing to help the poor. It’s time for its leaders to abandon the grand vision and embrace a down–to–earth approach.

World Bank Finally Debars Company Convicted of Bribing in Lesotho

The World Bank at long last has debarred a company convicted of corruption on Africa’s largest dam project, nearly two years after a guilty sentence was handed down in a Lesotho court.

The Lesotho High Court yesterday convicted Lahmeyer International, a German engineering consulting firm, of paying approximately US$550,000 in bribes to the former chief executive of the multi–billion dollar Lesotho Highlands Water Project in exchange for favorable contract decisions, according to South African press reports. Lesotho Justice Gabriel Mofolo found Lahmeyer guilty of 7 of the 13 counts for which they were charged.

Acres International lost its appeal of its Lesotho bribery conviction on Friday. The Lesotho High Court had earlier found the Canadian engineering firm guilty of paying bribes to the former Chief Executive of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project in exchange for favorable contract decisions.

The family faced the danger of being swallowed up by the giant Mohale dam of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.

At long last there seems to be some hope for the Lakabane family which was left in the middle of the Mohale dam of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) after the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) refused to resettle them elsewhere to make way for the construction of the gigantic reservoir.

Company May Face Disbarment by World Bank

The Lesotho High Court today convicted Acres International, a Canadian engineering consulting firm, of paying bribes to win contracts on a multi–billion dollar dam project. Acres had been charged with paying nearly $266,000 to Mr. Masupha Sole, the former chief executive of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. Sentencing will take place on October 7 and 8.

More than 2000 demonstrators converged on three major dams in Lesotho on November 19 during a massive coordinated protest. Police responded violently at Mohale Dam, injuring three elderly women. The demonstrators, all impacted by the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), were protesting the lack of fair compensation for property lost to the dams, and unfulfilled promises of development in affected communities. They demanded to receive a ten–percent share of royalties generated from the dams and a commission of inquiry into the project’s impacts on local people. In a petition that they delivered to project authorities during the protest, the protesters state, "We have tried by all possible means to get a fair and reasonable compensation for our property�but this was all a fiasco. We were promised development�but this has not materialized to date."

The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) is a massive, multi–dam scheme built to divert water from Lesotho’s Maloti Mountains to South Africa’s industrial Gauteng Province. The first phase of the project involved the construction of two large dams, Katse and Muela, which dispossessed 20,000 rural farmers of assets (ranging from fields to grazing lands) and livelihoods. In an effort to prevent the permanent impoverishment of these people, the governments of South Africa and Lesotho promised in the LHWP Treaty that affected people "will be enabled to maintain a standard of living not inferior to that obtaining at the time of first disturbance."¹

Rivers affected by the 5–dam Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) could deteriorate to "something akin to waste–water drains" if Lesotho delivers as much water to South Africa as the original treaty requires. This is according to the final draft of the Instream Flow Requirements (IFR) study conducted by Metsi Consultants at the request of the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA). The report is intended to inform planners’ decisions about the proposed Mashai Dam, which is currently the subject of treaty negotiations between South Africa and Lesotho.