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How South Africa’s Water Needs Plunged Lesotho Into Food Insecurity

1 August 2022 by Pascalinah Kabi  Bertha Foundation Fellow  Landlocked Lesotho, is currently experiencing severe food insecurity as a result of a deal to meet neighbouring South Africa’s ever-increasing water needs.  The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) was billed as one that would bolster Lesotho’s position in the regional political economy and [...]

Communities Blame Letšeng Mine Pollution For Trail Of Sickness, Death And ‘Poisoned Pasture’

17 May 2022 by Pascalinah Kabi  Bertha Foundation Fellow ‘Mapontso Lematla explains the real time Letšeng Diamonds Mine pollution captured on camera in March 2023. Credit: Retselisitsoe Khabo 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 [...]

Why the public-private partnership to build Lesotho’s only specialist hospital floundered

It was hailed as a revolution in private investment in healthcare in Africa but almost a decade after it was opened, Lesotho’s only specialist hospital takes up almost a third of the country’s entire health budget. Now, we may finally know why. 12 May 2020 by Pascalinah Kabi  The once-heralded [...]

Exposed: Letšeng Secretly Admits Contaminating Water Sources

16 May 2022 by Pascalinah Kabi Bertha Foundation Fellow A leading mining company in Lesotho, Letšeng Diamonds Mine, has admitted in confidential reports that its operations are polluting water systems that poor, rural communities rely on daily. But the company denies this in public. The Patising and Maloraneng communities live near [...]

Lesotho traditional healer Mohaneng Lekhooana

Life-Saving Medicinal Plants Face Extinction

30 July 2021 by Pascalinah Kabi Lesotho traditional healer Mohaneng Lekhooana harvests medicinal plants in his home town. Credit: Pascalinah Kabi Shivering and moaning, 36-year-old ’Mantoa Kobeli can barely sit unassisted on a plastic chair in a “consulting room”, a shack run by a traditional healer, Monaheng Lekhooana. A burning [...]

Basotho men buck stereotypes to champion routine childhood immunisation

A male-led campaign in Lesotho seeks to break the patriarchal norms that say childhood vaccination is a woman’s job – and is seeding a potentially lifesaving shift. 21 February 2023 by Pascalinah Kabi Lesotho male mobilisers pose for a picture along with Mantsopa Institute staff at the refresher course in January 2023. [...]

Why one hospital takes up almost 30% of this country’s entire health budget

As part of a 2008 public-private partnership agreement, the Lesotho government contributed almost R840-million to the hospital project. The Development Bank of Southern Africa paid another R1.4-million in the form of a loan to Tšepong (Pty) Limited, a company comprised of Netcare and largely local partners, according to a 2013 report [...]