Lesotho drought action plan set in motion

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Lesotho drought action plan set in motion

3:47 CAT | 05 Feb 2016

Reuters / According to the World Food Programme, Lesotho has set aside R150-million for drought relief but still wants another R345 million.

The Lesotho government will meet development partners today to lobby support for dealing with a drought that is going to cost the country R500-million.

More than a third of the country’s population is affected by the drought and, to deal with it, Lesotho is likely to turn to South Africa for assistance.

According to the World Food Programme, Lesotho has set aside R150-million for drought relief but still wants another R345 million.

Some of this money is needed for constructing temporary water reservoirs and distributing water.

The government said R13-million would go towards health services to deal with water-borne diseases. Of this, R131-million has been set aside to provide potable water.

African analyst and scenario strategist Koffi Kouakou said the irony in the situation was that, while Lesotho provides water to South Africa through the Highland Water Project, it doesn’t have the infrastructure to provide water for itself.

“South Africa might have to assist in providing water to affected areas in Lesotho and to provide expert help,” said Kouakou.

The Lowlands water project that supplies water to Lesotho’s urban centres, had been sabotaged by villagers who claimed they did it because they had no water, said Tsoeu Petlane, director of the Transformation Recourse Centre.

Efforts were under way to address this, he said, by providing outlets at villages the pipeline goes through.

Mlimandlela Ndamase, a spokesman for South Africa’s Department of Water Affairs, said the minister had not received a request for assistance from Lesotho.

“If such a request were to be made, the minister would regard it in a serious manner. But we do have our own challenges because of the drought,” he pointed out.

Source: Times Live