Adv. Lepeli Moeketsi
The inauguration of the Senqu Bridge on the 22 April 2026 in Mokhotlong was celebrated as a triumph of engineering and bilateral cooperation, but the speeches delivered on that day reveal why the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) Treaty of 1986 must be reviewed as a matter of urgency. The Treaty, conceived four decades ago, has not been substantively revisited despite provisions for review every 12 years. This neglect has entrenched a model of development that prioritises contracts, procurement, and engineering feats while sidelining the rights and livelihoods of affected communities.
From the Prime Minister’s mouth falls policy, and his words carry the weight of government commitment. He acknowledged displacement as a profound disruption and directed LHDA to honour resettlement and livelihoods restoration “on time and in full.” He grounded these obligations in Lesotho’s Constitution, the Treaty, and the LHDA Order of 1986, affirming that affected people have a right to development of their living conditions. This is not rhetoric; it is policy. It means we must expect to see a Treaty review that enshrines people-centred development, backed by international human rights law.
King Letsie III reminded us of the immense sacrifices communities have endured: relocation, dismantled homesteads, moved graves, and lost ancestral lands. His moral appeal underscored that people must not be subjected to lives inferior to those they enjoyed before the project. Principal Chief of Mokhotlong, Chief Lerotholi Mathealira Seeiso sharpened this point, demanding a livelihoods restoration plan that communities have requested but never received, and insisting that the speed of engineering must be matched by urgency in compensation and resettlement. These voices converge on one truth: the Treaty must be reviewed to embed obligations that protect communities, not just deliver water and royalties.
President Ramaphosa’s assertion that “no households are left worse off” was made without evidence. International law requires that development improve the well-being of all individuals, not merely serve state interests. His remarks highlight the danger of a Treaty that remains state-centric, measuring success in terms of national economic growth while ignoring the lived realities of those displaced.
The most disappointing intervention came from LHDA’s Chief Executive. Instead of providing a substantive project overview, he retreated into treaty formalism, dismissing concerns about overdue review as “nothing new or strange” and insisting that review is a matter for governments alone. This exclusionary stance contradicts the Declaration on the Right to Development and the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which require that communities be recognised as rights-holders and stakeholders. LHDA’s neoliberal approach was evident even in their programme for the event: their fact sheet focused exclusively on engineering excellence in challenging terrain, contracts entered into, procurement models, and goods and services procured. Nothing was mentioned about affected fields in Sekokong, cracked houses due to blasting, loss of livelihoods, or alternative restoration measures. This silence is telling; LHDA sees success in concrete, not in communities.
The Treaty review must correct this imbalance. It must embed human-centred development, guarantee free, prior, and informed consent, mandate livelihoods restoration and environmental protection as binding obligations, and establish accountability mechanisms such as independent monitoring and grievance redress. Remedies for past violations must be delivered without delay.
The Senqu Bridge may rise majestically above the Maloti mountains, but unless the LHWP Treaty is urgently reviewed to embed human rights at its core, it risks becoming a monument to exclusion. Development without justice is dispossession dressed in concrete. The Treaty review is not optional; it is a matter of urgency. Only by recasting the Treaty as a people-centred instrument can we ensure that future phases are implemented by LHDA in a way that prioritises communities over contracts, dignity over procurement, and justice over engineering accolades.
Advocate Lepeli Moeketsi is a human rights expert and currently serves as Programs Manager at the Seinoli Legal Centre. In this role, he leads strategic initiatives that defend and advance the rights of communities affected by large-scale development projects, ensuring that legal frameworks and advocacy efforts remain firmly people-centred.
