…communities’ fears over compensation mount as project kicks-off Billy Ntaote Mokhotlong communities facing compulsory relocation last week petitioned the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) in a last-ditch effort to demand lifetime compensation as construction of the multi-billion Maloti Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) Polihali Dam takes-off. The disgruntled residents, represented by Survivors of Lesotho Dams (SOLD)-- a
Author: news@lescij.org
Lekhetho is Founding Editor and Journalist at MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism in Maseru, Lesotho. He is 2016 First-Prize Investigative Journalism Award Winner sponsored by MISA – Lesotho and US Embassy – Maseru. Lekhetho has attended a three-month intensive investigative journalism fellowship with AmaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism in Johannesburg, South Africa, from mid-August to mid-November 2018.
During the fellowship, Lekhetho published in South Africa and Lesotho five “impressive” investigative articles about the beleaguered Lesotho’s wool industry, the country’s capture claims by Chinese community, how a Chinese business mogul in the country funded almost every politician and influenced state decisions.
Lekhetho has been commended by his editor and mentor at AmaBhungane, Andrew Forrest, as one of best fellows the Centre has enrolled.
Lekhetho is one of 37 contributors in the Southern African Muckraking – an anthology edited by Anton Harbor and launched during the 2018 African Investigative Journalism Conference in October.
Appeal court back in business
RELEBOHILE KHOALE and MANTŠALI PHAKOANA Lesotho’s Court of Appeal this week finally held its first session of the year, exactly a month after its opening was controversially suspended allegedly due to lack of funds. The apex court’s opening followed incessant pressure on the government by the Law Society, which warned that the state had a
The plight of abandoned police officers in far-flunked posts
…leaving communities crime-ridden KEISO MOHLOBOLI It certainly doesn’t look like a police station but a crumbling mining compound whose very right to exist literally ended the moment management decided it no longer made economic sense to continue with the mining operation. But this is not a deteriorating, once-thriving mine now dying a very slow and painful death
Reforms, only option for Lesotho’s stability
RELEBOHILE KHOALE European Union Ambassador Christian Manahl says on-going multi-stakeholder reforms offer Lesotho a once-in-a-generation opportunity to solve its lingering political instability problem. In a sombre speech delivered on Wednesday during Europe Day celebrations, Ambassador Manahl also said the reforms dialogue has made very good progress in a country whose politics had regressed
Open Letter to Prime Minister Thabane and President Cyril Ramaphosa
From CONCERNED BASOTHO CITIZEN LESOTHO HIGHLANDS WATER PROJECT 1986 AND 2011 PHASE II AGREEMENT 1.1 Lesotho highlands Water Treaty was initiated under the BNP led Government and pursued under protracted negotiations culminating in a Treaty concluded by a Military led Lesotho government in 1986 nine months after the latter overthrew the BNP led Government.
Divisive fleet tender bounces back, court bid to stop award
BILLY NTAOTE Dissatisfied bidder for conflict-ridden fleet management tender has approached the High Court to nullify a contract alleged to have been awarded unlawfully to Fleet Africa/Silverstone—a joined venture said to have skipped tendering processes. Fleeters Holdings (Pty) LTD has filed an urgent application seeking the High Court to interdict and ultimately nullify the alleged
Co-op Lesotho Chief Executive Officer’s Letter to the Editor
Lack of political will frustrates Majoronomics
THUSO MOSABALA Finance Minister Dr Moeketsi Majoro has once again delivered a set of desired policy actions in the form of austerity measures that will never see the light of day without political will to ensure enforcement. This proposal to return to basics and gulp the medicine of austerity measures remains a mere rhetoric if
Of brutal marriage and the deadly virus
A heart-breaking tale of a police sergeant who survived abusive hubby and HIV comma MAJIRATA LATELA BOTHA-BOTHE - At the height of an agonising abuse by her husband in 2013, ’Maseabi Makoa was diagnosed with severe depression that had eroded her blood cells to a lowest CD4 count of 20. The normal CD4 count for healthy
EU pumps M621m for protection of Lesotho’s water sources
BILLY NTAOTE & THUSO MOSABALA European Union (EU) has expressed its confidence over the ambitious implementation of a project funded to the tune of M621 million for protection of water sources and wetlands that ensure continued supply of water to Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) dams. Protection and survival of the wetlands in the highlands of Lesotho