Africa-Press – Lesotho. Subsequent to watching a programme aired on the National Television whereby Masapong community had complained over Southern Sky quarry that has blasted their houses, the Minister of Mining Hon.
Serialong Qoo paid a visit to the named community to hear their grievances last Friday at Masapong Ha Ntsi, Nazareth. Speaking at the community gathering,
the Ministry of Mining Principal Secretary (PS) Tšokolo Maina said the core reason the Minister had called them together was to hear their grumbles over Southern
Sky quarry. Maina also stated that the Ministry of Mining is in charge of all mining activities hence they saw it fit to come hear what the community and the company responsible for the excavation have to
say. One of the villagers, ‘Maletapata Thamae indicated that her house windows were broken while the extractors were blasting. She Southern Sky representatives came to her house to see the damage and promised that they
would fix it but to date, they have not fixed her windows. Another villager, Monaheng Mahlakeng said the damage done by the quarry is heart wrenching as some houses
have fallen down, others cracked, windows have broken and the noise from blasting is also posing a physical hazard to both villagers and animals. He said their grazing land has also been affected, yet the company has not even
fixed the netball playgrounds nor done anything as a way of giving back to the community. Mahlakeng further indicated that the company says it is only obliged
to help houses that are 500 meters square around the quarry, yet the quarry affects houses beyond the mentioned measurement. Southern Sky Manager, Stephen Ntlama expressed the company’s heartfelt apologies to the community as
he said they understand and recognize the damage they have caused. Ntlama indicated that they are not able to fix the playgrounds because they do not belong to the community but to the schools, saying there will be complications
in this regard. On the issue of noisy blasting, Ntlama said as a way forward, they have resorted to using the other form of blasting which does not make
noise. For the houses that were affected he urged the community to form a committee that will coordinate between the company and the villagers so they
can fix the mess. Thaba-Bosiu Principal Chief Khoabane Theko thanked the Minister for organizing a visit to the community to hear their complaints. He advised him to take time before answering
the tabled grievances in an effort to avoid promising the community what he may not deliver, as promises undelivered pose anger to the nation. Chief Khoabane
also indicated that the complaints are very heart breaking and sound. The Minister of Mining Hon. Serialong Qoo signified that the natural resources belong to Basotho and they
must yield fruits when they are extracted. He urged Southern Sky to humble themselves before the community and also ordered them to go to local schools to
get permission to fix the playgrounds for Nazareth community. Qoo further asked the community to form a coordinating committee that will handle matters and
promised to give out engineers from the ministry to form part of the committee so that they can assess the harm done by the quarry. He urged the community to
form the mentioned committee within 7 days. Southern Sky is a Chinese owned company that started excavating stones at Ha Ntsi in 2002 and about 173 houses have been affected by the hazards posed by the quarry thus far.
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