Court intervenes in Highlands Water Project dispute

The Lesotho High Court has told the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) and the trust representing communities affected by the Lesotho Highlands Water Project to come to an agreement out of court. The Seinoli Trust had approached the court seeking to overturn a refusal by the LHDA to share data needed to determine whether communities near the project had been left worse off by it. GroundUp reports that Seinoli argued that the data is critical to determining whether the families have been adequately compensated under the treaty signed by Lesotho and SA. Judge Molefi Makara yesterday gave the two parties until 17 November to complete out-of-court negotiations on the handover of the information. After yesterday’s ruling, Seinoli’s Advocate Relebohile Thuhlo said the organisation would send a letter to the LHDA listing all the information required.

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