MOKHOTLONG – Thousands of Lesotho residents and business owners have taken the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) to court, accusing it of failing to compensate them fairly for land taken to construct the multi-billion-rand water scheme that supplies South Africa’s economic heartland.
The legal challenge, reported by GroundUp, is centred on the Katse Dam and other components of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), which redirects water to the Vaal Dam — the primary source of drinking water for Johannesburg.
Over 3,000 individuals and 889 businesses have joined the case, demanding full compensation, a development fund that was promised but never delivered, and a share of profits from the project’s second phase. They claim their land was expropriated as far back as 1986, with some families receiving as little as 78 lisente per square metre.
Limpho Natsoane, who chairs the Mokhotlong Business Forum Development Trust, is one of the lead applicants. In court papers cited by GroundUp, Natsoane says many affected families live in desperate conditions, with no grazing fields, no income, and no access to essential resources lost during forced relocations.
The applicants allege human rights violations, including arrests and torture of residents who resisted the project. They accuse the LHDA and its contractors of flouting constitutional and legal obligations under the 1986 treaty that established the LHWP.
The court documents also argue that Phase II of the project — including the Polihali Dam and a 38km tunnel connecting it to Katse — began without complying with legal compensation procedures. Regulations to formalise the process only came into effect in 2016 and 2017, nearly three decades after construction began.
Applicants are asking the High Court to declare all phases of the LHWP unconstitutional where they infringed on community rights. They are also calling for a court order compelling LHDA to deliver overdue compensation and restore livelihoods.
Seinoli Legal Centre, which is representing the claimants, told GroundUp that more than 100,000 people could benefit if the court rules in their favour.
LHDA attorney Monaheng Rasekoai confirmed to GroundUp that opposing court papers had been filed last Thursday.
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