pictured: Ex-miner Sebota Motseki Billy Ntaote This story is supported
Author: LESCIJ LESCIJ
Journalism is increasingly treated as a crime in Zimbabwe
The Zimbabwean government has arrested and charged several high-profile journalists. AI generated photo. Zimbabwe CorrespondentState surveillance, arrests and detentions have created a climate of fear in newsrooms, and a new law will bring investigative journalism under direct state control. The effect is chilling: editors are self-censoring to protect their organisations. This is
The lingering scars of mining: How South African mines left Basotho miners to die
Families, moved to make way for Mohale Dam, lose court battle
20 years after they were displaced by the Mohale Dam, court tells families to share their compensation payout. Mohale Dam photo: Sechaba Mokhethi Sechaba Mokhethi Five families who were moved to make way for the Mohale Dam in the Lesotho mountains have lost a court battle over compensation. Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA)
Malawian politician, fired in 2022, appointed to Lesotho Highlands Water Commission
The Lesotho Highlands Development Authority's offices in Maseru. Photo: Sechaba Mokhethi Sechaba Mokhethi Malawian politician Helen Buluma was appointed as secretary of the Lesotho Highlands Water Commission (LHWC) in April. Buluma previously acted as deputy CEO of Malawi’s state oil company, where she faced allegations of mismanagement. She was fired in 2022
Villagers lodge complaint with African Development Bank against Lesotho Highlands Water Project
The Polihali Dam wall under construction. Photo: Sechaba Mokhethi Sechaba Mokhethi Eighteen rural communities in Lesotho have filed a complaint with the African Development Bank over the implementation of Phase II of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. Villagers allege a decade of broken promises, unsatisfactory relocations, a loss of natural resources, farm land
Dump site fire leaves Maseru residents in choking smoke for days
The Tšosane dumpsite in Maseru, has been ablaze since Saturday night. Wastepickers, however, continue to scrounge a living at the site. Photo: Sechaba Mokhethi Sechaba Mokhethi Residents near Maseru’s Tšosane dumpsite have been choking on smoke since Saturday night. The community won a court settlement in February 2023, requiring Maseru City Council to
Lesotho’s outdated laws fail to protect threatened plant species
In March, five people were arrested and two trucks carrying hundreds of bags of pelargonium were seized by Lesotho’s police and Environmental Crime Unit. The trucks were surrounded by dozens of villagers attempting to sell their harvested pelargonium. Photo supplied. Sechaba Mokhethi An unregulated trade in pelargonium, a protected species, is causing
LDF commander’s wife at centre of mine dispute in Mashai
Alluvial Terraces Pty Ltd mining equipment in Mashai. Photos: Sechaba Mokhethi Sechaba Mokhethi and Mamello Mochesane In the remote highlands of Mashai, 46 villagers are preparing a legal fight to stop a diamond prospecting project that could cost them their land, livelihoods and way of life. But, considering that the prospecting license
Wounded in Combat, Shortchanged at home
Injured LDF soldiers say SAMIM disability payouts were calculated from the wrong base figure, and justice remains out of reach Billy Ntaote Twenty Lesotho Defence Force soldiers injured during a 2021 deployment to Mozambique are still waiting for compensation that they believe they are owed. Their military leaders have changed their minds
