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Eighteen rural settlements in Lesotho have lodged a complaint with the AfDB over its funding of a multibillion-pound hydraulic scheme whose development phase they claim has damaged farmland, polluted water sources and damaged homes.

Requests for Transparency and Payment

About 1,600 residents living in the communities in Mokhotlong district in north-east Lesotho are calling for transparency over proposed evictions and compensation they say they have not been informed about.

The LHWP is scheduled for completion by 2029, a decade later than initially scheduled. It will transport water from mountainous Lesotho to a area containing the Republic of South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg, at an estimated cost of 54bn rand (£2.28bn).

Official Grievance Submitted

Last week, the local residents, represented by the Lesotho-based Seinoli Legal Centre and the American nonprofit Accountability Counsel, filed a complaint with the bank’s independent recourse mechanism. They requested the IRM to recommend that the AfDB board halt the project until their grievances are resolved.

The document said that rock blasting had caused fissures in residential structures, while rockfalls and flooding had obstructed access to some agricultural plots. It alleged that dust and debris had tainted local streams.

“They take our fields [and] they didn’t pay in a good way,” said a community representative, requesting anonymity due to fears of backlash from authorities.

Institutional Reactions

Spokespeople for the African Development Bank, which provided R1.3 billion to the project in 2021, said they would reply to written inquiries, but had not responded by the time of publication.

The Lesotho Highland Development Authority, which manages the project, stated: “No household has been, or will be, relocated without prior and thorough dialogue … Our pledge is to transparency, accessibility, and timely communication across all stages of engagement.”

It added: “To date, no dwellings 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 perform repairs to the approval of the affected family, or reimbursement is offered in accordance to regulation.”

The LHDA further noted that landslide problems had been rectified, claims of field access being impeded had not been verified and “general water condition stays within permissible limits for its intended uses”.

Claims of Security Abuse

The communities also asserted they had suffered arbitrary detentions, detention and torture by state forces and police for demonstrating calmly.

A police representative, a official voice for the Lesotho Mounted Police Service, said: “Officers acted within the legal framework … Demonstrations are controlled, therefore illegal protest cannot be non-violent. We are guided by principles of civil liberties as embedded in the Lesotho Constitution Act of 1993.”

A representative for Lesotho’s defense force did not respond to a request for statement.

Other Backers

The initiative’s funders also include the Brics bloc’s New Development Bank and the DBSA, neither of which responded to requests for comment.