…As Prof Marake warns of a water management crisis

12 August 2024 by Pascalinah Kabi

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In an unprecedented admission, the Lesotho government has acknowledged that it does not know the value of the country’s underground water.

Essentially, the government is admitting that the country has not conducted a detailed study to determine the financial or economic value of its underground water resources.

This revelation, made by Finance and Development Planning Minister Dr. Retšelisitsoe Matlanyane, raises significant concerns about the country’s commitment to effectively manage and protect a resource that contributes up to M1.4 billion annually to government revenue.

Under the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP), which involves both Lesotho and South Africa, water is the largest revenue source for the Lesotho government.

According to estimates from the 2021/22 financial year presented by former Finance Minister Thabo Sofonea, the water sector generated M1.1 billion revenue in 2021/22 from water royalties paid by South Africa. In 2023, as posted by the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority on its website, Lesotho received M1.4 billion in water royalties.

Additionally, M3.7 million was earned from electricity sales at the ‘Muela Hydropower Station to the Lesotho Electricity Company in 2023.

Lesotho is also planning to transfer water to Botswana as part of the Lesotho-Botswana Water Transfer Project. This project will build a dam on the Makhaleng River in Mafeteng to deliver a specified volume of water to Botswana.

Despite the critical role of water in Lesotho’s economy, no comprehensive study has been conducted to determine the precise value of this essential resource.

“We need to manage water resources that are underground, these very ones that we donot know their value as we speak, but they are part of our wealth and they need to be managed right where they are,” Dr. Matlanyane said.

Also watch Dr. Matlanyane’s revelation here:

Dr. Matlanyane made the revelation during her keynote address at the two-day National Natural Resources Governance Dialogue held in Maseru from August 7-8, 2024.

Speaking at the same dialogue, National University of Lesotho’s Professor Makoala Marake warned that Lesotho is faced with a water management crisis.

“We are facing a crisis of governance,” Prof Marake explained, adding “we have established that it is impossible to separate the water resources from the rest of the other natural resources.”

He argued that an effective natural resources governance must be transparent, accountable, participatory and communicative.

“It must be incentive-based, particularly to the communities upon which we impose this government’s norms. It must be sustainable. It must be equitable, genderised, coherent, efficient. It must be integrative, bringing everything that we are about as a people. And it must be ethical,” he said.

The dialogue was held at the time Lesotho and other African countries are grappling with the effects of climate change, mostly affecting vulnerable groups like women, the disabled and herd-boys.

In February 2024, environmental journalist Liapeng Raliengoane explained how herd-boys are vulnerable to climate change-induced lightening.

“There was this other time I was writing a story about three herd-boys from Mantšonyane who stay at the cattle post. I was documenting their experiences in the context of climate change, they told me their biggest fear is being struck by lightening which is very common in their line of work,” Raliengoane explained.

On August 8, 2024, Khala Mokete addressed the Manthabiseng Convention Centre on behalf of herders.

“The changing state of rangelands is getting worse, we are witnessing drought episodes, soil erosion and when it eventually rains, the rain erodes the soil and grass seeds into the river,” Mokete spoke of the impacts of climate change on rangelands in Lesotho.

On his part, King Letsie III warned that the degradation of the country’s natural resources is not just an environmental issue, “it is also a social economic challenge that requires our immediate and collective action.”

He therefore urged all stakeholders to work together towards the implementation of comprehensive strategies that promote sustainable climate resilient land use, conservation of biodiversity and the rehabilitation of our degraded areas.

“In this bicentennial year of our nation, let us honour our heritage by committing to actions that will restore and preserve the beauty and productivity of Lesotho’s landscapes for future generations. Let us work together to create a legacy of sustainability and stewardship that will define the next 200 years of our nation’s history,” King Letsie III said.

Meanwhile, the main aim of the dialogue was to facilitate the exchange of experiences and insights on natural resource governance, with a focus on monitoring, gender mainstreaming, and enhancing ecosystem resilience in Lesotho against climate change.

Additionally, the dialogue aimed to foster stakeholder coordination, improve policy and legal frameworks, enforce laws, share knowledge, harmonise practices, and increase financial resources for natural resource management.

Dr. Matlanyane said she is looking forward to the development of a policy that is integrated and all inclusive.

“It is not just about the land and water resources, its also about the downwards, its about the water, not only the surface that we see,” she said.