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Eighteen rural communities in Lesotho have filed a complaint with the African Development Bank (AfDB) over its funding of a multibillion-pound water project whose construction process they claim has ruined fields, polluted water sources and damaged homes.
About 1,600 people living in the villages in Mokhotlong district in north-east Lesotho are demanding transparency over planned forced relocations and compensation they say they have not been consulted on.
The Lesotho Highlands Water Project is scheduled for completion by 2029, a decade later than planned. It will transport water from landlocked Lesotho to a region containing South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg, at an estimated cost of 54bn rand (£2.28bn), according to a parliamentary briefing by South African officials in May.
Last week, the Lesotho communities, represented by the Lesotho-based Seinoli Legal Centre and the US NGO Accountability Counsel, filed a complaint with the AfDB’s independent recourse mechanism (IRM). They asked the IRM to recommend that the AfDB board suspend the project until their concerns are resolved.
The complaint said rock blasting had caused cracks in house walls, while rockfalls and flooding had blocked access to some fields. It alleged dust and debris had polluted water sources.
“They take our fields [and] they didn’t pay in a good way,” said a community representative, requesting anonymity due to fears of reprisals from authorities.
Spokespeople for AfDB, which loaned 1.3bn rand to the project in 2021, said they would respond to emailed questions, but had not done so by the time of publication.
The Lesotho Highland Development Authority, which runs the project, said: “No household has been, or will be, relocated without prior and comprehensive consultation … Our commitment is to transparency, accessibility, and timely feedback across all levels of engagement.”
It added: “To date, no homes have been reported as uninhabitable due to blasting. However, where households have experienced damage such as cracks or other structural issues, contractors are required to carry out repairs to the satisfaction of the affected household, or compensation is provided in line with policy.”
It said rockfall issues had been resolved, allegations of field access being blocked had not been verified and “overall water quality remains within acceptable limits for its intended uses”.
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The communities also alleged they had suffered arbitrary arrests, detention and torture by security services and police for peacefully protesting.
Mpiti Mopeli, a spokesperson for the Lesotho Mounted Police Service, said: “Police acted within the rule of law … Protests are regulated, therefore unlawful protest cannot be peaceful. We are guided by principles of human rights as enshrined in the Lesotho Constitution Act of 1993.”
A spokesperson for Lesotho’s national security services did not reply to a comment request.
The project’s funders also include the Brics bloc’s New Development Bank and the Development Bank of South Africa, neither of which responded to requests for comment.
