Khothatso Sehloho
THE Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) will employ about 6000 unskilled people across the country to provide labour on the Polihali dam construction in Mokhotlong in the next three years.
The LHDA is currently working with the Labour and Employment ministry in recruiting labourers for the construction of the dam. The construction is expected to be completed in 2028.
Polihali operations branch manager, Gerald Mokone, said that the recruitment which started on 6 June 2022 and is ending on 30 June 2022 is being carried out in all the country’s 10 districts.
Mr Mokone said the exercise was part of LHDA’s strategy to ensure that all Basotho get equal employment opportunities and benefit from major projects in the country.
“This initiative is aimed at ensuring that more local people get jobs and play a part in contributing towards the national economy, that is why the recruitment is spread across the country,” Mr Mokone said.
He urged interested people to register at the labour offices in their respective districts before the set deadline.
A raffle would be used to select the lucky people in each district, Mr Mokone said.
“We encourage those interested to register in their districts. They should bring their national identity documents and provide the mobile numbers of two of their close contacts. After the completion of the registration, a raffle will then be conducted in each district in the presence of district community representatives to ensure fairness in the recruiting exercise.”
Mr Mokone said that close to 3000 people would be hired initially for the first 18 months, after which another group will be engaged to replace them.
“Although we cannot say the exact numbers now, we estimate that about 3000 people will be hired to provide labour to the constructors for 18 months. These will be replaced by another group at the end of their contract, for a similar period,” he said.
On his part, Labour ministry public relations officer, Tumisang Mokoai, said they were providing the LHDA with offices to undertake the recruitment exercise.
“We do not offer employment as the ministry but we’re offering our offices to LHDA to do the recruiting. This will make their work much easier,” Mr Mokoai said.
Registration for Maseru district would be done at Mazenod Conference Centre to avoid congestion in the city.
Polihali dam is part of the Phase II of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, a multi-phased project to provide water to the Gauteng region of South Africa and to generate hydro-electricity for Lesotho. It was established by the 1986 Treaty signed by the governments of Lesotho and South Africa.
Polihali dam will create a reservoir on the Senqu and Khubelu rivers with an estimated surface area of 5053 hectares and a full supply storage capacity of 2325 million cubic metres.
The dam’s infrastructure also includes a 43m high, 600m crest-length CFRD saddle dam, a spillway, and a compensation outlet.