…Govt, city council accused of indifference
…MPs demand answers in Parliament
Mathatisi Sebusi
THE stench of rotting garbage near Reitumetsi Kobo’s home pervades the Ha Tšosane neighbourhood, yet daily life carries on. Children head to school, vendors set up stalls, and workers board taxis — all under a cloud of decay from the nearby municipal dumpsite.
Only weeks ago, Kobo constantly reminded her children to keep windows shut against the east wind that carried foul air from the dumpsite. Now, with the arrival of warmer summer temperatures, the stench has intensified, blanketing homes in the area.
For years, Kobo and her neighbours have waited in vain for the Maseru City Council (MCC) to relocate the site to Tšoeneng, Rothe. Their patience has run out.
But this past weekend, a raging fire at the dumpsite jolted the community into crisis.
Raging inferno
This time it was not just the usual discomfort of inhaling a constant foul smell. Thick, choking smoke clouds suddenly suffocated the streets of Ha Tšosane, making it impossible for Ms Kobo and her children to breathe.
Residents believe a chemical reaction may have caused the fire. However, Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs and Police Minister, Lebona Lephema, claimed that an angry community member — frustrated after rubbish was blown into her yard — might have started the blaze in protest.
Ms Kobo said there was no way of knowing how the fire began, since dozens of destitute people are seen daily rummaging through the dump for materials to salvage and sell to recycling companies.
Her three young children began coughing non-stop, their eyes red and teary from the irritating black smoke.
Without a second thought, Ms Kobo fled her home with her children last Saturday.
Since then, the family has been living in a rented BnB, abandoning their smoke-filled home in a desperate bid to breathe.
“I just came back to collect a few clothes for the kids,” she said, her voice muffled beneath two face masks. “It is impossible to live here. The smoke makes it hard to breathe, and the children were coughing uncontrollably.”
As she spoke, grey plumes rose beyond the fence that separates her home from the dumpsite. Despite the obvious health hazard, assistance to residents like Ms Kobo has been minimal.
Council’s piecemeal response
By Monday this week, when the Lesotho Times visited the area, the only assistance MCC had provided was a handful of masks distributed to a few affected community members, while firefighters still struggled to contain the blaze.
In stark contrast, just three kilometres away in Maseru city centre, residents went about shopping and piling tonnes of garbage — oblivious to the fact that Ha Tšosane residents were fighting for every breath because of their waste.
“We are tired. For years, we have been fighting for this dumpsite to be moved, but our pleas have continued to fall on deaf ears,” Ms Kobo said.
“Before the fire, strong winds blew trash from the site into our yard, scattering waste all over. Then came the fire.”
Now, dark soot has painted the white walls of her house both inside and outside, while a rancid odour of rotting food, melting plastics, and chemical waste wafts into homes in the neighbourhood non-stop, day and night.
Ms Kobo describes life near the dumpsite as “unbearable.” She worries about thieves breaking into her house while she is away, or the fire gutting her house and belongings.
“We are scared that in our absence thieves might break in — or worse, that the fire could spread to our homes. Some families have gone to stay with relatives, but what about those who have nowhere else to go?” she asked.
Even more stressful, she said, are her fears about the long-term health consequences for her minor children growing up exposed to garbage daily.
Ms Kobo also suspects that water from the dumpsite leaks into their yard, contaminating their water sources.
“This water carrying harmful substances from the dumpsite seeps through the foundation into my house.
“I am already struggling with chest problems after several years of inhaling fumes from the dumpsite daily.”
NUL research
The National University of Lesotho (NUL)’s Professor Mosotho George once collected soil samples from the Tšosane dumpsite for testing. Results revealed that the soil contained phthalates — chemicals from plastics that may harm people and the environment.
Prof George’s article was published in the Environmental Analytical Chemistry journal by Taylor and Francis in May 2019, titled Extraction of phthalic acid esters from soil samples using aqueous room temperature sonication coupled to bubble-in-drop single-drop microextraction.
His findings noted that because dumpsites in Lesotho, including Tšosane, are not built like modern landfills in developed countries, they lack liners or protective barriers to prevent chemicals from leaching into the soil.
As a result, he warned, if phthalates are already showing up in the soil, they could eventually creep into water sources or farmland, affecting people, crops, and animals.
The study also revealed that such chemicals are difficult to contain, with many phthalates breaking down under heat or acidic conditions.
Neglect
This is not the first time disaster has struck the community. According to residents, this is the second major fire at the Ha Tšosane dumpsite in five years — both believed to have been caused by chemical reactions within the waste.
Yet, little has changed.
For Ha Tšosane residents, the issue is about more than just one fire. It is about years of neglect, living on the edge of a dumpsite that continuously threatens their health and safety. Until the situation is addressed, families like Ms Kobo’s remain displaced, living with uncertainty and fear — with the persistent stench of burning waste in their lungs.
At the forefront of the community’s advocacy efforts is Motlatsi Dlankamandla, a local representative who has spent years raising alarms over the health and environmental dangers posed by the municipal dumpsite.
Now, as the site burns once again, Mr Dlankamandla told the Lesotho Times that the government’s silence has grown louder.
“The fire burned down some electricity poles and now many families are without power — and still, no action has been taken. I reported it, just like I have reported everything else before,” he said.
He added that even before the fire, the community had been grappling with severe pollution from the dumpsite. Dirty, contaminated water frequently seeped into homes and farmland, making daily life not only difficult but dangerous.
“We can no longer grow vegetables in our gardens because our borehole is contaminated. When we test our farm produce for commercial purposes at testing facilities, we find viruses linked to pollution from the dumpsite. To farm and sell vegetables safely, we have to buy water purification machines,” Mr Dlankamandla said.
He described the impact of the weekend fire as “too extreme to even put into words.”
The thick smoke, he explained, has invaded homes and schools, particularly affecting children at Tšosane Primary School.
“The children are suffering. Their performance is poor because their environment is toxic. Health-wise, the community is already affected. Now with this fire and suffocating smoke, there is no help — no protective measures. It is business as usual while we choke.”
He said the community has for years called for the relocation of the dumpsite, but their efforts have been ignored.
Dumpsite relocation “costly”
“We went before a Parliamentary committee. Minister of Local Government, Chieftainship, Home Affairs and Police, Lebona Lephema, told us that the government needed M400 million to move the dumpsite to Tšoeneng, but that money was not available.
“We are aware that a budget had been allocated this financial year, but no action on the ground shows any development regarding the dumpsite,” Mr Dlankamandla added.
He said MCC reportedly receives M5 million annually to manage the dumpsite, and this year the budget was increased — but conditions have not improved.
“We continue to suffer despite the increased funding. We have tried engaging with the MCC and the town clerk, but nothing has come out of it. There is no transparency, and no progress.”
As the fire raged throughout the weekend and into the new week, Mr Dlankamandla found it bizarre that no emergency medical support was provided, yet waste trucks continued dumping at the already burning site.
On Monday morning, he asked MCC to provide a mobile clinic for smoke-affected residents, but was told they should go to local health centres.
For him and the broader Ha Tšosane community, the lack of urgency has become the “worst insult.”
“There is no plan, no accountability, and no care for the people who live at Ha Tšosane. Every time we ask for help, we are ignored — and the only thing that changes is the level of our suffering.”
Contacted for comment on Monday, MCC spokesperson, ’Makatleho Mosala, said the council was doing its best to alleviate the situation.
With homes contaminated, gardens barren, water unsafe, and children coughing through school days, Ha Tšosane residents are calling this what it is: a humanitarian crisis.
Authorities indifferent
As fire trucks attempted to contain the fire and waste trucks continued dumping, residents like Mr Dlankamandla said their voices remained muffled not only by the smoke, but also by what they described as government indifference.
The burning of the dumpsite raised concerns in the National Assembly on Monday, with Members of Parliament interrogating Minister Lephema on the progress made in relocating the dumpsite, since his ministry had been allocated funds for the project.
While the community blames a chemical reaction, Mr Lephema claimed it was started by an angry resident whose yard was littered by wind-blown trash.
He assured Parliament that he had deployed fire extinguishers and water tankers to put out the blaze, adding that investigations were underway to find the culprit.
Uproar in Parliament
MPs accused Mr Lephema of misdirecting funds, alleging that money was instead used for international travel and redoing a report, rather than implementing recommendations from a Zimbabwean waste management company hired to study the issue.
Mr Lephema admitted that he had undertaken study tours to Zimbabwe and South Korea to learn about better waste management practices. He said he returned with Geo Pomona Waste Management (PVT) Ltd of Zimbabwe, which conducted a feasibility study and submitted recommendations.
However, he said he was dissatisfied with their report and therefore commissioned another feasibility study, using funds initially budgeted for implementation.
“I was not happy with their report, therefore I started another study. Implementation does not necessarily mean moving the dumpsite; even financing the report is part of the implementation,” he argued.
This angered MPs, who said his ministry was not treating the crisis with the urgency it deserved.
M20 million under scrutiny
Dr Mahali Phamotse, leader of the United Africans Transformation (UAT), asked Mr Lephema to explain how his ministry had spent the M20 million allocated this financial year for relocating the Ha Tšosane dumpsite. She also demanded he disclose the cost of the international trips.
“From the report submitted to this House by the Portfolio Committee on Law and Public Safety, of which I am a member, implementation was supposed to happen now. The M20 million was for implementation, not anything else.
“I am now concerned that the ministry is conducting another study using that money and is already identifying companies to relocate the dumpsite. Where does this lead us? This is among the things that derail this country’s progress.
“How are they still conducting a study while companies are already being identified?
“As the committee, we believe the money is already being used, but not for its intended purpose,” Dr Phamotse said.
Mr Lephema did not disclose how much of the M20 million had been spent to date but insisted the international trips were funded by the United Nations Environmental Progress.
The Matala legislator, Tšeliso Moroke, said the main reason the dumpsite has not been moved to Tšoeneng is that Lesotho still lacks a proper landfill.
“The plan is to make a landfill in Tšoeneng, not a dumpsite,” he explained.
