Protimos trip to Lesotho
10 December 2009
In early December we made a trip to Lesotho to review the progress of our Seinoli project after 6 months of operation.
Over the last few months the legal team has been gathering more detailed information about the grievances of the dam-affected communities.
On 4 December we held a legal briefing meeting in Durban at the chambers of Andrea Gabriel, a South African advocate who will take on the cases when we get to litigation stage. The legal team have identified 4 areas where strategic legal action would have the greatest impact:
- Villages in the Katse area left without adequate water supply after seismic activities from the dam.
- Co-operative societies who have not received promised communal compensation payments following relocation and resettlement.
- The ‘blue river’ – effluent from local factories flowing through resettled villages on the outskirts of Maseru causing irritation and health problems.
- Lack of adequate consultation processes between the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) and the affected communities.
- Another important issue is the next phase of the LHWP, the Polihali dam, which is underway and will potentially affect thousands more people in the surrounding areas.