By Teboho Serutla
The minister of water, Nkaku Kabi says the residents who illegally connected pipelines, to access Metolong dam, will no longer be taken to court.
He says the ministry had talks with WASCO over the action that must be taken against residents who illegally connected water to their homes through pipelines which disseminates water to other locals, because they realized that taking them to court is consuming a lot of time, delaying solutions.
He added that those who were responsible for the connection of water or delivery of water services to the accused communities, are also to be blamed for their delay to deliver such services, which gave the accused no choices but to pursue with these illegal connections.
The minister was briefing the media about the performance of his ministry in Maseru on Wednesday.
The purpose of the meeting was for the minister to update the public about what the ministry has done since June 2020, up to date.
The updates include achievements and failures, the ministry acquired throughout their progress with all the stakeholder departments, such as WASCO, Lesotho Highlands and Lowlands Water Projects.
Members of the Masekoeng and Thaba Khupa communities in the Thaba Bosiu ward were among those suspected of illegal domestic water connections are facing criminal charges in the Maseru Magistrate’s court.
The village that is just 8km from the Metolong Dam, does not have water supply. The villagers there claimed Rural Water Supply, a government department with a mandate to ensure that there is water in the rural areas and the Water and Sewage Company (WASCO) have been pushing them from pillar to post playing hide and seek with them when it comes to when they demanded water supply.
Masekoeng and surrounding communities claimed they ended up taking matters into their own hands and engaging a contractor to connect public taps from the Metolong Dam. The dam is the centre piece of the Metolong Dam Water Supply Programme, which is believed to be providing water to two-thirds of the country’s population.
WASCO was the complainant in the criminal case against community members responsible for illegal water connections.
