Ntsoaki Motaung and Seabata Mahao
Newsday on Monday descended on the Ha Ramarothole Solar PV Park in Mafeteng, a flagship renewable energy project trumpeted by the Lesotho Electricity Generation Company (LEGCO).
Launched in 2021 and handed over to the government in June 2023 with a 30-megawatt capacity and plans to scale to 80 MW, this public-private venture aimed to bolster Lesotho’s energy grid, cutting reliance on costly imports from South Africa’s Eskom.
It was born of ambition, a partnership between LEGCO, China Sinoma International Engineering, and TBEA Xinjiang New Energy, backed by loans to harness Lesotho’s abundant sunlight.
It is part of a broader push. His Majesty King Letsie III pitched green energy to Davos elites in January this year to electrify a nation where only 50 percent of households had power by 2022, per the Department of Energy.
However, beneath the gleam of its panels lies a stark reality: the eight villages encircling this beacon of progress, Ha Liemere, Ha Lempetje, Ha Ramarothole, Makeneng, Ha Sebusi, Ha Mahali, Ha Rankapu, and Ha Qobete, are reaping little but dust.
Four of these villages, Ha Liemere, Ha Sebusi, Ha Mahali, and Ha Rankapu, languish without electricity, despite the solar park’s hum in their backyard.
The other four, Ha Lempetje, Ha Ramarothole, Makeneng, and Ha Qobete, have power, but not thanks to the plant; their lights flicker via Lesotho’s standard electrification, not a trickle of goodwill from LEGCO.
Worse still, Ha Ramarothole, the village hosting the project, is gripped by a water crisis so dire that residents, rationed to one weekly fetch from a communal tank, queue under the sun while a borehole gushes within the solar park’s fenced oasis, water used to polish panels, not quench thirst.
“We face a desperate water shortage,” Chieftainess ‘Maramarothole Ramarothole told Newsday.
“A natural spring feeds our tank, but each household gets one turn a week. That’s it.”
Asked how the solar park secures water to clean its arrays while her village withers, she shrugged: “Ask them when you visit.”
Newsday established that there is a borehole pumping freely inside the site, a mocking pond amid a parched desert.
LEGCO’s emailed responses to Newsday’s questions sent by e-mail this week were a masterclass in deflection.
Queried on how a socially responsible entity justifies the fact that Ha Ramarothole, which hosts a major energy project, is suffering from severe water shortages when there is a borehole within its solar energy project, which is used to clean the solar panels, LEGCO dodged: “This shows the importance of having such initiatives within those villages which is the mandate of the local authorities. Shortage of water within the communities is collective responsibility of everybody.”
Asked if there are there any steps it is going to take to improve access to clean water for Ha Ramarothole, LEGCO said: “Outside the LEGCO scope.”
Newsday further asked: “Does LEGCO have any plans to allocate a portion of the revenue generated by the solar park towards water infrastructure for the affected villages?”
LEGCO responded: “Revenue collected from the solar plant is going to be used to service the loan used to develop the solar plant.”
Entry to the site proved elusive. Workers on-site stated that the journalists should have made prior arrangements with the head office in Maseru and that entry is only permitted on Thursdays.
However, in written responses, LEGCO said the journalists were not denied entry but were “advised that due to security and safety reasons everyone who visits the plant must make prior arrangements to be allowed into the plant.”
It added: “This has been the standard procedure followed by all sectors and the entire public being academia, schools, media houses and even members of parliament.
“Everyone is expected to make prior arrangements before being allowed entry into the solar plant and that has been the procedure which until now has been followed. This is to safeguard the public investment against any vandalism or malicious acts possible.
“Access to the project is not restricted only prior arrangements have to be made and those arrangements have to be made with the office in Maseru as the office in Mafeteng is only for technical matters and administrative issues are done in Maseru
“It has to be noted that LEGCO is an independent company has its own ways of doing things either on policy level or administrative decisions made by the management.
“This prior arrangement is not only required from Journalist but as indicated above it is expected from everybody who visits the site. LEGCO is liable for its own security.”
Summary
- Launched in 2021 and handed over to the government in June 2023 with a 30-megawatt capacity and plans to scale to 80 MW, this public-private venture aimed to bolster Lesotho’s energy grid, cutting reliance on costly imports from South Africa’s Eskom.
- Worse still, Ha Ramarothole, the village hosting the project, is gripped by a water crisis so dire that residents, rationed to one weekly fetch from a communal tank, queue under the sun while a borehole gushes within the solar park’s fenced oasis, water used to polish panels, not quench thirst.
- Queried on how a socially responsible entity justifies the fact that Ha Ramarothole, which hosts a major energy project, is suffering from severe water shortages when there is a borehole within its solar energy project, which is used to clean the solar panels, LEGCO dodged.
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