A view of the Polihali Village gates shows a blue pond on the left, and just outside the fence, an area below the road used by Masakong villagers for open defecation. Residents cross the tarred road daily from their village on the right to reach this site, entering through a

Motlalepula Lethala makes a living by ferrying people in a small aluminium boat across the Senqu River in Qacha’s Nek, Lesotho. Screenshot from video: Ashraf Hendricks Sechaba Mokhethi Every day at about 6am, Motlalepula Lethala pushes his small aluminium boat onto the Senqu River in Qacha’s Nek. Lethala has ferried people across one

Management at Lesotho’s Scott Hospital sat in silence as a medical waste contractor falsely identified itself to villagers at a public meeting convened to address the dumping of hazardous medical waste in their community. Photo © Retšelisitsoe Khabo

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

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

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

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