09 October 2023 by Pascalinah Kabi The whir of a tractor roars into life in Ha Raliile, a small village nestled in the Sehlabeng plateau in Berea. The tractor belongs to farmer and businessman Thabiso Mokone. Mokone trades in renting the tractor to other farmers in the area and, selling fresh [...]
…investment promotion agency shields Nien Hsing from water pollution exposé 10 February 2023 by Pascalinah Kabi, Billy Ntaote, Sechaba Mokhethi This is the fourth part of a five-part investigation by MNN into how Lesotho’s textile factories operate with a disregard for labour laws and with apparent impunity as tests confirm [...]
8 February 2023 by Pascalinah Kabi This is the third part of a five-part investigation by MNN into how Lesotho’s textile factories operate with a disregard for labour laws and with apparent impunity as tests confirm that factories release toxic wastewater into water courses, including the Mohokare/Caledon River. This series is supported by [...]
24 December 2022 by Pascalinah Kabi Bertha Foundation Fellow Letšeng Diamonds, Lesotho’s most lucrative mine, has awarded contracts worth M6.7 billion to MGC Mining, a company that is ultimately owned by Prime Minister Sam Matekane. The value of the contracts was disclosed in a 16-page response by Letšeng to a number [...]
13 October 2022 by Pascalinah Kabi Bertha Foundation Fellow A confidential report that flags harmful levels of toxic mining effluent in Lesotho’s key rivers feeding the Lesotho Water Highlands Project (LWHP) has raised uncomfortable questions in the government and set the cat among the pigeons in cabinet, as ministries shift the blame [...]
11 October 2022 by Pascalinah Kabi Bertha Foundation Fellow Lesotho’s Director of the Department of Environment, Motsamai Damane’s bombshell admission that mining companies are polluting water sources that rural communities rely on has triggered a blame game in government. While departments try to dodge being held accountable for not monitoring mining operations, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]