{"id":14581,"date":"2022-05-17T07:56:04","date_gmt":"2022-05-17T07:56:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lesotho-communities-blame-diamond-mine-pollution-for-trail-of-sickness-death-and-poisoned-pasture"},"modified":"2022-05-17T10:16:02","modified_gmt":"2022-05-17T10:16:02","slug":"lesotho-communities-blame-diamond-mine-pollution-for-trail-of-sickness-death-and-poisoned-pasture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/lesotho-communities-blame-diamond-mine-pollution-for-trail-of-sickness-death-and-poisoned-pasture","title":{"rendered":"Lesotho communities blame diamond mine pollution for trail of sickness, death and \u2018poisoned pasture\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Sitting in her modest hut in the rural enclave of Patising in Mokhotlong, Lesotho, the 52-year-old Mapontso Lematla says she first spotted the discoloured water in the local stream decades ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis water causes stomachaches and diarrhoea,\u201d the soft-spoken Lematla said in an exclusive interview with MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism.<\/p>\n<p><a name=\"in-article-action-1\"><\/a>Many residents in the Patising and Maloraneng communities, who live downstream from Let\u0161eng Diamond Mine and rely on surrounding natural water sources for drinking and other household chores, tell stories of the blue and black water and believe this pollution is the cause of illness and death.<\/p>\n<p>Lematla describes how the Patising stream sometimes overflows with mine tailings (motoro in local language). <a name=\"fourth-par-video\"><\/a>The World Health Organization (WHO) says: \u201ccontaminated water and poor sanitation are<br \/>\nThe water is making us sick\u2019<br \/>\nClad in her purple blouse, dark sweater and white sunhat, Lematla says her Patising community is always battling diseases such as diarrhoea.<\/p>\n<p>She has lost count of how many times she\u2019s fallen ill from drinking the contaminated water. \u201cI am one person who has serious difficulties using this water; it upsets my system,\u201d says Lematla who had diarrhoea and severe stomachache for two weeks between January and February this year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had diarrhoea for whole two weeks, constantly running to the toilet.<\/p>\n<p>We have discussed water contamination issues with Let\u0161eng many times,\u201d adds Lematla, who also explains that some residents living in the older residential side of Patising, Ka Lithakong, depend on the stream for daily water needs.<\/p>\n<p>While the Let\u0161eng Diamond Mine has constructed a borehole in the new village, for Lematla this is a ten-minute walk away. She says accessing the borehole Let\u0161eng constructed for Patising is not always easy for those staying at Ka Lithakong due to distance and sometimes, overflowing streams.<\/p>\n<p>Scared of being swept by the sometimes overflowing stream or running out of water at awkward times forces her and others to use the stream for drinking water. Sephapo Moletsane is a 72-year-old ex-miner-turned-unionist.<\/p>\n<p>Moletsane worked at Let\u0161eng mine when it was owned by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.&lt;br&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;letsengdiamonds.&lt;br&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;co.&lt;br&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;ls\/about-us\/history\/\">De Beers<\/a>, a mining company that was asked by the Lesotho government to re-evaluate the Let\u0161eng kimberlites in December 1976.<\/p>\n<p>It was later granted an eight-year mining lease. \u201cThe contaminated water causes diarrhoea, a rash that I don\u2019t know what name I can give to but there is that rash which forces people to scratch themselves, particularly small children.<\/p>\n<p>It also causes something similar to flu, people cough a lot, causing us to think that maybe they have tuberculosis,\u201d Moletsane said. In March this year, a Maloraneng father, Reboneng Matubatuba, blamed the death of his 13-year-old son on the mine.<\/p>\n<p>Matubatuba says his son, who was crippled shortly after his fifth birthday, succumbed to diarrhoea and sharp stomachache after inhaling polluted air coming from a Let\u0161eng blasting operation.<\/p>\n<p>Matubatuba\u2019s son inhaled the \u201codour from the smoke coming from Let\u0161eng\u201d. The next day, the deceased had diarrhoea that lasted for a month, leading to his death.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA dark emission came towards the village and an odour was smelled all over the place. He complained about the odour. The following day, he woke up with diarrhoea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe thought this was the result of the smoke and the water since we drew it from the stream. The water was blue and salty. We didn\u2019t have any access to clean water and depended on the stream water.<\/p>\n<p>I thought the smoke and the air were a cause of his sickness \u2014 the diarrhoea that went on until he died. \u201cHe complained of a severe stomachache before he died.<\/p>\n<p>The suspicion is that the cause of his death is the smoke and the water from the stream,\u201d Matubatuba said. A postmortem was not done as this is expensive and not something that is an option for poverty-stricken Patising and Maloraneng communities.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement to MNN, Let\u0161eng Diamonds chief executive officer, Kelebone Leisanyane said: \u201cAny suggestion of the company\u2019s activities having adverse impacts on the health of the community members is baseless\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Maluti Community Development Forum (MCDF), an interest group that defends the rights of the poor communities in the Lesotho\u2019s mining areas, claims there have been at least <a href=\"https:\/\/www.&lt;br&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;kpcivilsociety.&lt;br&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;org\/publication\/coalition\/grassroots-research-on-local-diamond-mining-impacts\/lesotho\/\">two deaths<\/a> suspected to be associated with the water contamination in Patising and Maloraneng villages.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of those incidents, in Maloraneng, concerns a one-year-old infant who died on the back of his grandmother while walking twelve kilometres to access public transport to health services,\u201d reads a MCDF report.<\/p>\n<p>Leisanyane, however, says that MCDF president Advocate Thabo Lerotholi \u201cpersists on making false and damaging allegations against the Company\u201d instead of availing himself for a \u201cconstructive dialogue\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Two years ago, 19 Patising villagers asked the Lesotho high court to order the Let\u0161eng Diamond Mine to relocate them because they fear being engulfed by the mine\u2019s slime dams in case of flooding.<\/p>\n<p>They also claimed the <a href=\"https:\/\/lescij.&lt;br&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;org\/2020\/09\/07\/villagers-sue-letseng-mine-over-relocation\/\">stream water was no longer safe for consumption.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In response, Leisanyane told the high court that: \u201cLet\u0161eng\u2019s investigations have disclosed that people from Patising use the water they collect over and over again.<\/p>\n<p>In the process, bacteria gets into the water. This in turn, after many uses, renders it unsafe for washing purposes\u201d. The MNN has since learnt that community members are divided on issues of water contamination, with others coming to the defence of Let\u0161eng.<\/p>\n<p>Patising chief, Tseko Lematla says the mine last polluted the water early into the mine\u2019s operations. \u201cWe reprimanded the mine harshly because that issue (water contamination) was happening at an alarming rate due to the carelessness from the slime dam. It is now a thing of the past,\u201d Tseko said. Tseko\u2019s statement, however, contradicts what is happening on the ground.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, just a few hours after the interview with Tseko, the MNN crew witnessed blue water from the Let\u0161eng mine gushing into Feeane \u2014 one of the three streams originating from Let\u0161eng<br \/>\nNo more fish in the water<br \/>\nMaloraneng sub-chief, Lentsoete Mohai, says the contaminated water kills everything, from livestock to plantations, and fish.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur association planted trees here,\u201d Mohai said, adding \u201cthe dust (from the mine) left trails on the topsoil\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He thinks that, at that time, there was just too much of that blue dust in the environment affecting the ecosystem in the area. \u201cWhen watering the trees, there would be a blue colour in the small hole made for the tree.<\/p>\n<p>The tree would then display undesirable results like its leaves drying up,\u201d Mohai said. With the blue dust settling on grazing grass, Maloraneng livestock grazed from the \u201cpoisoned pasture\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Mohai says: \u201cWe don\u2019t know what killed them (livestock) but one thinks they are dying from this thing because they never died before its arrival\u201d. Before and shortly after the mine started its operations in 2004, Mohai claims there was plenty of fish in the Maloraneng stream which also helped feed the community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe used to have lots of fishes and the mine (stocked) fishes for us at the beginning of its operations, big-sized, beautiful fishes similar to those (stocked) in the Katse Dam.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe used to catch plentiful fishes until the Let\u0161eng mine started doing their operations resulting in this type of water, we no longer have fishes here. Those beautiful fishes have gone extinct. We have now learned that this polluted water is killing us,\u201d Mohai said. Leisanyane denies these claims.<\/p>\n<p>Contamination spills into Lesotho, SA water project<br \/>\nPatising and Maloraneng streams feed into the Khubelu River, one of the two critical rivers feeding in Phase II of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) in Mokhotlong.<\/p>\n<p>According to University of Dar es Salaam Master\u2019s graduate, Masetsabelo Moqekela, the Khubelu wetlands are also vital for the sustainability of this Phase II project.<\/p>\n<p>LHWP is a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.&lt;br&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;lhda.&lt;br&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;org.&lt;br&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;ls\/lhdaweb\">multi-phased binational project<\/a> providing water to Gauteng, South Africa while generating hydroelectricity for Lesotho.<\/p>\n<p>Phase II of the project, Polihali Dam, will be built at the confluence of Khubelu and Senqu rivers in Mokhotlong. In 2016, Moqekela undertook a study evaluating the monetary value of the Khubelu Wetlands. In an interview with MNN, Moqekela said: \u201cHuman activities like mining pose a threat of pollution and destruction to the wetland\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>She estimates that the Khubelu wetlands, fast degrading, value M7.6-million, 58% of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.&lt;br&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;lhda.&lt;br&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;org.&lt;br&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;ls\/lhdaweb\">M12.8-billion Lesotho got from selling 17,503 million cubic metres<\/a> of water to South Africa between 1996 and 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Failure to rehabilitate these wetlands could mean that: \u201cBoth the quality and quantity of water (in Polihali Dam) will be affected\u201d, according to Moqekela.<\/p>\n<p>Cape Peninsula University of Technology student, Bokang Shakhane says: \u201cThe results obtained in the present study indicated that there was a <a href=\"http:\/\/etd.&lt;br&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;cput.&lt;br&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;ac.&lt;br&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;za:8080\/bitstream\/20.500.11838\/2992\/1\/Shakhane_Bokang_217137326.&lt;br&gt;&lt;\/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;pdf\">definite pollution in the Khubelu River Catchment<\/a> with respect to (heavy metals) HMs and nutrients studied\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Leisanyane told MNN that the mine is not \u201cgetting into these research-related questions because we do not have time, they are highly academic\u201d. South African High Commissioner Sello Moloto appealed to the Lesotho government about the contamination of water by mining activities at Polihali, about four years ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe continuing issuing of mining licenses within the environmentally sensitive areas of the dams poses a danger of environmental degradation and ultimately the contamination of water,\u201d Moloto said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\">Lesotho<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Lesotho. Sitting in her modest hut in the rural enclave of Patising in Mokhotlong, Lesotho, the 52-year-old Mapontso Lematla says she first spotted the discoloured water in the local stream decades ago. \u201cThis water causes stomachaches and diarrhoea,\u201d the soft-spoken Lematla said in an exclusive interview with MNN Centre for Investigative Journalism. Many [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":14580,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8,16],"tags":[233,246,245],"class_list":["post-14581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Lesotho communities blame diamond mine pollution for trail of sickness, death and \u2018poisoned pasture\u2019 - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sitting in her modest hut in the rural enclave of Patising in Mokhotlong, Lesotho, the 52-year-old Mapontso Lematla says ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" 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