Africa-Press – Lesotho. OPPOSITION parties say they have instructed their lawyers to draft papers to sue Prime Minister Sam Matekane over the controversial hydro-power conference scheduled for next month.
The parties told a press conference on Tuesday that they are going to ask the High Court to order Matekane to reverse his decision to engage a private company spearheading the conference, Metsi ke Bophelo (Pty) Ltd.
The Democratic Congress (DC) youth league leader Pheello Sehlabaka told the press conference that since the government does not want to listen to them they are approaching the courts.
“We are taking Mashudu to court, we will not allow them to take our water just like that.
” A Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) member, Montoeli Ramaipato, said they will push hard to stop the project.
“They think we do not have options, we are going to court so that they are stopped,” Ramaipato said.
The threat to sue comes a day after the African Development Bank (AfDB) pledged to sponsor next month’s Water and Hydrogen in a Digital Future conference in Maseru. The AfDB, the largest development bank on the continent, has pledged US$15 000 (more than M285 000) towards the running of the conference.
The conference is meant to bring together stakeholders in the water sector to discuss means to create business opportunities and make Lesotho a regional supplier of hydropower.
The AfDB’s announcement on Monday, came six days after opposition parties and a faction of the ruling Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) seeking Prime Minister Sam Matekane’s ouster sought to block the deal.
The opposition wrote the parliamentary Natural Resources cluster chairman, Moeketsi Motšoane, asking him to investigate Matekane’s interest in a company at the forefront of the water deal.
They also want him to probe the legal registration of a company by the name of Metsi ke Bophelo (Pty) Ltd, owned by one Mashudu Elias Ramano and four others.
The opposition also wants Motšoane to probe Matekane and Natural Resources Minister Mohlomi Moleko’s legal powers “to implement such a private programme without proper stakeholder consultations”.
They also want him to investigate “the harvesting of energy by using Basotho waters without following due processes as enshrined in the instruments from Lesotho’s water and energy frameworks”.
They said Motšoane should investigate how much funds were used by both the government and sponsors in this particular conference. The opposition also wrote Matekane demanding that he should stop the project and to also not advise King Letsie III to bless it.
Mohlomi welcomed the AfDB’s confirmation that it will participate and sponsor the Metsi Ke Bophelo Water and Hydrogen in a Digital Future Conference and Expo, to be held in Maseru on October 12 and 13.
In a letter confirming the AfDB’s participation at the conference, Oswald Mulenga Chanda, writing on behalf of AfDB President, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, described the conference as an “innovative and ground-breaking event”.
“The Bank believes that the question of what Lesotho can do with its water endowment is an important one,” Chanda said. Chanda echoed the vision of King Letsie III, and Matekane to make Lesotho a sustainable digital hydro nation.
The AfDB says it supports Lesotho’s efforts to leverage its water resources, particularly the development of clean energy, and hydrogen in particular.
Chanda said new strategies, based on new ideas, “will help Lesotho to leverage the value of its water resources, to use digital technologies to increase access to agricultural services, markets, and assets”.
The conference, he said, will help Lesotho “to meet the increased energy requirements of digital technologies through the development of clean, green energy sources, of which hydrogen offers strong benefits”.
Moleko, welcoming the support, said “we are on the right track with the technologies that we want to develop, particularly green hydrogen energy”. “This support will enable us to secure experts, and we look forward to the bank’s contribution to the discussions at the conference,” Moleko said. The Metsi ke Bophelo Water and Hydrogen in a Digital Future Conference and Expo will be officially opened by King Letsie III.
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