Lesotho court examines Katse Dam compensation claims
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Southernafricalitigationcentre
Lesotho’s High Court is due to hear on 27 October a request to compel the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority to disclose data on households affected by the Katse Dam. The figures are meant to check whether families maintained their standard of living, as provided for under the treaty concluded with South Africa in 1986, according to the Seinoli Legal Centre.
The High Court of Lesotho will hear on 27 October in Maseru an application by the Seinoli Legal Centre, supported by the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC), against the refusal by the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) to release baseline data on households affected by the Katse Dam. The data should make it possible to assess whether families displaced or deprived of their land have maintained a standard of living at least equivalent to that before the project, according to SALC.
The case concerns phase I of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, the water-supply project carried out with South Africa. The treaty signed by the two countries on 24 October 1986 promised that residents affected by flooding, construction work or other consequences of the project would not see their standard of living deteriorate. The LHDA’s compensation policy provides for the collection of socio-economic indicators before construction to measure changes in income and living conditions.
The hearing will take place three days after the 40th anniversary of the treaty. Seinoli is seeking access to figures concerning communities, not the names of the people involved, the organisation’s programmes manager Lepeli Moeketsi said.
Summary produced with the help of artificial intelligence tools, under AFREEQUE’s editorial responsibility.
