Families lose dam compensation battle

After more than 20 years, five families displaced by the construction of the Mohale Dam in the mountains of Lesotho have finally had their day in court, only to be told they must share their long-awaited compensation with the community where they live now, reports GroundUp. At the centre of the dispute is a long-standing policy of the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA), which requires resettled families to share compensation for lost communal assets with the community where they are moved to. In a recent High Court judgment, the families, who were moved to make way for the construction of the Mohale Dam under the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, lost their case against the LHDA. They had argued that the policy was unjust because their new community did not have comparable communal resources, such as grazing land, to reciprocate. But the court upheld the LHDA policy as lawful, ruling that the displaced families must share their lump-sum payment of more than M1m with the Thuathe community, where they were resettled between 2002 and 2004. This decision, delivered by Justice MS Kopo on 21 August 2025, brings an end to a legal battle that had dragged on since 2018.

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