Africa-Press – Lesotho. The Minister of Water Hon. Nkaku Kabi officially launched 259 stand pipes worth M14.9 million from one of the recently completed water supply systems at Katse, last week Wednesday.
The water supply system is part of the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority’s (LHDA) implemented Water Supply and Sanitation (WATSAN) programme for the supply of water and sanitation to communities around the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) dams.
The system launched at Sephareng provides water to about 6 300 people approximately 1, 170 households living in 24 villages at Katse and Lejone areas.
In terms of work done so far, it is expected that by the end of this year, a total of 27 000 people living in 101 villages at Katse, Lejone and Matsoku would have benefited from this programme.
There are yet 6 villages to be supplied with water, covering a total population of 3 600, due for completion in the next two years while the sanitation and refuse disposal is complete in all the 107 villages.
LHDA Representative Mahase Thokoa speaking at the launch said the project was introduced long time ago with the intention to bring cleanness to the environment surrounding the Katse dam.
Thokoa said the project was implemented by WATSAN programme, which has so far built toilets for people living in that area and has ventured into water supply in 24 villages.
“The structure of Katse them seems to have spread in Leribe and Thaba-Tseka district,” he said. He added that among the 24 villages, 12 of them fall under Thaba-Tseka and the rest under Leribe district.
He said the construction company, Platinum which was responsible for completion of the project, worked tirelessly despite Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Thokoa said it is every villager’s duty to ensure that they protect the taps, emphasizing that they need to take care of their environment for it to maintain water.
Sephareng water supply Committee Chairperson Hlaeng Chopho said they are grateful that finally their village is supplied with water. He reported that during improvements there was a challenge of climate change and people stole equipment.
“While we are busy making arrangements, there are people who steal machines and this causes a cut in progress,” he said.
Chopho noted that people will no longer travel long distances to get water and they hope this project will spread to other nearby villages which too, do not have water. Member of Parliament (MP) for Mantšonyane Constituency Hon.
Letsitsi Khobolela Mokoma said for the longest time, Katse villagers have been complaining about shortage of water yet the same water is sold to countries like South Africa (SA).
He said it is a great pleasure that their worry has been answered. He further said there are schools without toilets in that area and this hinders cleanness and can contaminate the water in the dam when it rains.
Hon. Kabi said LHDA gets water from Katse to sell it to SA and has built toilets in the villages near the dam as a token of appreciation to people living in that area.
He noted that villagers need to be educated about the importance of taking care of the environment so that their wetlands do not run out of water. He said they also need to work together with Chiefs to ensure that herd boys stop damaging the equipment used for water generation.
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