Civil society organisations supporting communities affected by the Lesotho Highlands Water Project Phase (LHWP) II have urged the New Development Bank (NDB) to engage directly with them and disclose a draft independent accountability mechanism for public consultation.
In a June 18, 2026 letter addressed to NDB President Dilma Rousseff and the bank’s Board of Directors, but only released to the media a few days ago, Seiloli Legal Centre and Accountability Counsel said communities affected by the project had faced unresolved concerns over livelihoods, environmental conditions, relocation, gender-based violence, labour issues and broader community rights.
The organisations said they had been engaging the consortium of financiers backing the project, including the African Development Bank (AfDB), Development Bank of Southern Africa and NDB, since 2024.
They said they had filed a complaint with the AfDB’sIndependent Recourse Mechanism in 2025 and requested a dispute-resolution process.
A separate complaint was also filed with the Development Bank of Southern Africa’s Independent Grievance Mechanism.
However, the groups said NDB had not joined the AfDBcomplaint because it does not have a comparable independent accountability mechanism.
“Since NDB does not have a comparable independent accountability mechanism,” the organisations said, the AfDBmechanism could not formally request NDB to join the complaint, leaving the bank without direct involvement in the process.
The groups said they had made several attempts since August 2024 to engage NDB, including through the bank’s annual meeting in Cape Town, its regional centre and its Environmental, Social and Governance Department without any success.
The organisations are calling on NDB to establish direct dialogue with affected communities and their representatives to identify solutions and address alleged harm.
They are also asking the bank to instruct the relevant department to contact the AfDB’s Independent Recourse Mechanism, monitor the complaint process, report regularly to the NDB Board and support implementation of any agreed outcomes.
The letter further raises concerns about access to justice for communities affected by NDB-financed projects.
The organisations said the absence of a formal complaints channel at NDB creates a “feedback and remedy gap”, particularly for communities that cannot resolve grievances through project-level mechanisms.
Communities affected by the water project had repeatedly raised concerns through project-level grievance mechanisms but that some issues remained unresolved.
The groups also pointed to NDB’s previous commitments to develop a project complaint mechanism.
According to the letter, NDB has indicated since 2021 that it was working on guidelines for such a mechanism.
The organisations also referred to the bank’s General Strategy for 2022–2026, which they said committed NDB to establishing mechanisms capable of addressing grievances arising from its operations.
They further cited discussions by the bank’s Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee in 2025 on developing a fit-for-purpose Independent Accountability Mechanism.
The civil society organisations indicated that those developments were encouraging but urged the bank to take a concrete step before the end of the current five-year strategy period.
They are further calling on NDB to release a draft Independent Accountability Mechanism policy for public consultation in 2026. This should be conducted under the guidance of the Board and should include multiple languages, online and hybrid participation and at least 90 days for submissions.
The bank should also publish a matrix of recommendations received during the consultation, including reasons for rejecting recommendations, and to release a final draft policy before submitting it to the Board for approval.
The letter was signed by Seiloli Legal Centre director Reitumetse Nkoti Mabula and Accountability Counsel representative, Robi Chacha Mosenda.
The demands come as concerns continue over the environmental and social impacts associated with the Lesotho Highlands Water Project Phase II and the accountability of financial institutions involved in funding major infrastructure projects.
