(MENAFN- The Post)
MASERU- A High Court judge has ordered the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) and communities around the Mohale Dam to agree on the modalities of compensation over their land that was taken over 20 years ago.
The LHDA conceded before Justice Molefi Makara last Thursday that it has not paid the communities the expected compensation.
The communities' lawyer, Advocate Borenahabokhethe Sekonyela, said they are yet to agree on how the communities will be paid their monies“in a way that will be fair and transparent”.
At least 11 cooperative societies had dragged the LHDA to court accusing it of diverting their compensation funds to development projects without their consent
The villagers accused the LHDA of“unlawful misuse of communal compensation money for development”.
In a founding affidavit, Chief Koporal Motanyane of Ha-Joele, told Justice Makara that the LHDA“unlawfully diverted (the compensation money) by using it for so-called development purposes such as installing electricity and water pipe system”.
Chief Motanyane said their livestock do not“graze on electricity and drink water from such pipe systems”.
He said the LHDA used their money to pay contractors of its own choice without their participation.
The contractors, he said, were paid“very exorbitant amounts for installation of such electricity and water systems which are not known to applicants”.Advertisement
“In some cases the (LHDA is) still threatening to further unlawfully divert the said money earmarked for communal compensation of the applicants by using it to pay (its) own contractors for so called development,” Chief Motanyane said.
He said the LHDA has not compensated them individually and collectively for their lost grazing land, medicinal plants, and other life amenities.
Chief Motanyane said in 2012 the LHDA, with the assistance of the Commissioner of Cooperatives, invited the communities of Mohale catchment area for meetings at Christ the King High School in Roma where they were“directed to form cooperative” societies.
The LHDA, the chief said, promised that it“would pay such communities compensation for their communal resources as affected communities through such cooperatives”.
“Many other villages in the Mohale catchment area also formed and registered similar cooperatives as applicants,” Chief Motanyane said
“Many have also not been paid any monies by the (LHDA) despite demands just like the applicants, hence this court application,” he said.
“Some have even died before receiving their compensation.”
Chief Motanyane said they were forced to form cooperatives“for development instead of receiving compensation for the benefit of their individual members as required by law”.
He said the LHDA's decision to force them to register cooperative societies for development was prejudicial to them and contrary to the cooperatives law.
He complained that individual members of the cooperatives were not allotted to have a share capital contributed into the accounts of the cooperatives
Secondly, he said, members were denied the right to reap dividends from the cooperatives in terms of the law.
Thirdly, he said, the members were denied the right to borrow from the cooperatives in order to improve the lives of their families, leaving them destitute.
Chief Motanyane said by forcing them to form village development cooperatives“completely negates the voluntary nature of cooperatives and their rights to freedom of choice and association with whatever cooperative of their choice, which may not even be in their village”.
He said some members, some of whom are now dead, were denied the right to have their own heirs nominated in the development cooperatives and could not enjoy their full rights in terms of the cooperatives law.
“As if that is not enough, the (LHDA) has been threatening to sue some of the applicants....for lawfully disbursing funds to improve the livelihoods of their members,” he said
The chief said the LHDA arbitrarily denied them projects of their choice.
Tente Tente, the LHDA boss, told the court in an affidavit that the LHDA used to compensate the affected communities by providing fodder for their livestock.
“This endeavour was met with a lot of challenges which prompted the LHDA to revise its compensation strategy,” Tente said.
The new strategy, he said, was annual cash payments to the affected communities through their legal entities represented by their appointed leaders.
“It needs to be mentioned that these communal payments are meant to be used for the development of the affected communities,” he said
He said the communities were not forced to form cooperative societies but were advised“to register legal entities of their own choice for purposes of giving effect to the communal compensation”.
He said around 2003 the LHDA started paying annuities to the bank accounts of their registered legal entities until 2013 when it was“forced to halt direct payments of annuities to the legal entities”.
“Between 2003 and 2013, the legal entities were receiving outstanding communal compensation funds or annuities directly from the LHDA,” he said.
The reasons to halt this, he said, were that“committee members siphoned the funds meant for communal benefit”.
“As a result, some of the projects that were embarked upon by the affected communities could not be sustained due to malfeasance by the committee members,” he said
He said the committees“were unable to account for the use of the disbursed funds for various reasons that included deliberate embezzlement of the funds”.
Staff Reporter
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