An estimated 27,000 people displaced by the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) have appealed directly to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, accusing the Lesotho government and the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) of failing to honour promises meant to protect their livelihoods.
The LHWP is a bi-national water transfer scheme between Lesotho and South Africa that supplies water to South Africa’s industrial heartland in Gauteng while generating hydroelectric power for Lesotho.
Through non-governmental organisation Policy, Environmental Justice and Water Resources Advocacy (PEWA), the affected communities say they remain trapped in poverty, landlessness and social exclusion despite treaty provisions that require their standard of living not to deteriorate as a result of the project.
PEWA representatives said this week that they have repeatedly engaged successive governments and the LHDA over their grievances, but their concerns remain unresolved.
The organisation also claims that some of its leaders were forced to flee Lesotho after receiving anonymous threats allegedly linked to their efforts to petition the South African government.
In a letter addressed to President Ramaphosa on 2 June 2026, the affected communities said they had suffered numerous hardships since their relocation.
“We have no land where we have been resettled and relocated. We have been suffering multiple injustices in the form of landlessness, poverty, illness and broken promises,” the letter states.
According to PEWA, the LHDA promised affected families land in Ladybrand, as well as access to water and electricity as part of their compensation packages.
The organisation further claims that communities were promised household and communal compensation, monthly subsistence payments and assistance with school fees because they had lost access to land and other means of livelihood.
“We demand dignity and justice as affected communities,” the letter reads, arguing that their situation violates provisions of the 1986 treaty governing the LHWP.
PEWA cited Article 7, Paragraph 18 of the treaty, which states that the LHDA must ensure that communities affected by flooding, construction works and other project-related activities are able to maintain a standard of living no worse than before the project’s implementation. The treaty also requires compensation for losses resulting from project activities.
Among its demands, PEWA is calling on the South African government to allocate land in Ladybrand to affected families, provide monthly subsistence support of R30,000 per family, and establish a mechanism through which communities can benefit directly from royalties generated by the project.
PEWA president, Mohato Morokole, has also requested that affected communities be given a direct role in the planned review of the LHWP Treaty.
Morokole argued that current LHDA policies have failed to benefit displaced families.
“There were three phases of resettlement, but affected households were relocated to only two sites. Communities in the third phase remain close to the dam, where both people and livestock face safety risks because of their proximity to the water,” he said.
He added that many resettled families have struggled to integrate into host communities.
Morokole further claimed that some resettled families were not fully accepted by chiefs and residents in host villages.
They also don’t have no land for burials or crop production, he stated.
One of the relocated residents, Seeta Tapane, said communities living near Katse Dam continue to face challenges, including cracked houses, which she attributes to the dam’s operations.
“Affected people have approached various government departments seeking assistance, but to date no help has been provided,” Tapane said.
She further argued that while the government and LHDA continue to benefit financially from the project, affected communities have seen little return.
“As a result, we believe our concerns and proposals should also be considered by the South African government,” she noted.
Efforts to obtain comment from the LHDA were unsuccessful by the time of going to press.
The Minister of Natural Resources, Mohlomi Moleko, has previously rejected calls from affected communities for a 20 percent share of LHWP royalties.
In a letter dated January 7, 2024, Moleko said the government faced numerous socio-economic development challenges that must be addressed through limited national resources.
“Royalty payments accrued from the LHWP contribute directly to the funding of the government’s capital and recurrent budget. A 20 percent royalty allocation would therefore be unfeasible given the budget deficit the country is already facing,” Moleko stated.
