SPECIAL REPORT IN THE MATTER OF COMPLAINTS BY THE RESETTLED PEOPLE AGAINST THE LESOTHO HIGHLANDS DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY

Following receipt of complaints by the people who have been resettled by the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority, the Ombudsman instituted a formal inquiry into the said complaints and the same is currently in progress.

During the hearings the complainants raised the matter of unfulfilled undertakings by LHDA to provide schools, clinics, water and roads to families resettled at one place in numbers from six (6) and above.  The Ombudsman carried out an inspection of some of the resettled communities as part of the investigations.

The inspection took us to, among other places, Ha Ratau and Ino Primary School (Ha Mosotho) under the chief of Ha Makotoko.  At Ha Ratau we found that there was congestion in the Primary School and the community had, in an attempt to alleviate the overcrowding problem, built another building.  At this point in time the building is almost complete because it has been roofed and doors fitted.

  However, the problem has not been solved in full since the new structure needs to be partitioned and otherwise completed so it may be used as classrooms.  It needs a ceiling, the floor and walls need to be plastered.  This is not to mention furniture, which would be required after the building becomes habitable.  We understand the building was not completed because the community ran out of resources.

The situation at Ino Primary School is more heart-breaking.  On account of overcrowding (to which the resettled people have contributed) two buildings which were never intended for such use have been turned into classrooms.  These are the church building and the house designed for poultry business and not for human occupation.

The conditions of these buildings are appalling, to say the least.  The church building has window-frames without window panes, the floor and walls are made of mud so that they require frequent re-application of mud if only to prevent the dust-related diseases.     There is no ceiling in the roof.  In winter, it must be biting-cold for the young learners occupying this building and there are many of them.  About two hundred and forty-seven from classes 2 and 3 in an unpartitioned hall.  Two (2) classes take lessons all at the same time.  At times one class is singing or doing something else while the other is taking lessons.  The situation is difficult to understand and one wonders just how the teachers are coping with it.  We were told that the primary-leaving examinations results are among the best in the Parish of Nazareth.

There is dire need for furniture.  There are very few shared desks and the majority of pupils sit on bare dusty ground or on rocks collected from the nearby hill.  There are virtually no blackboards.

In the poultry building there is no ceiling, the windows were not designed to have window panes; pupils sit in a hall without partitioning.  They sit on untiled concrete floor, the walls are also of concrete and unpainted.  They have a few desks which are shared by twice the number for which they each were designed.  The others sit on the floor or make-shift seats made of branches of trees supported from underneath by rocks.  Pupils spent the past winter in this building and are likely to spend more in there unless something is done sooner rather than later.

Two classes share this accommodation and the teaching takes place in much the same circumstances as in the church building.

The life of some children is in danger of another thing.  They cross rivers when going to school (especially those from Ha Makotoko).  We were told by both parents and teachers that in February 2002 a child from a resettled family of Ha Makotoko was washed away by a flooded river and died.  This menace disrupts teaching and learning at this school.  If it rains before children go to school, children do not go to school and miss lessons.  If it rains or threatens to rain during school hours teachers stop lessons and send children home.

When we enquired from the LHDA officials conducting the Authority’s case at the inquiry about failure on the Authority’s part to fulfill its undertaking in this regard, we were informed that the intention was to attend to these matters after the completion of the resettlement exercise.  It would take a while to complete this exercise as there are as yet more than forty (40) families from Ha Mohale to resettle in the lowlands of the country.  Apart from that the LHDA does not intend to go it alone.  It will need to liaise with the relevant Government ministries to determine Government’s plans and areas of possible co-operation in these projects.

This office is deeply concerned about the situation at the above schools.  That the population at these schools has been swelled by children from the resettled families permits of no doubt.  LHDA has resettled 34 families at Ha Ratau and 36 at Ha Makotoko.  LHDA has made promises to assist resettled communities with the improvement of existing schools or the building of  schools where none exist.  The fulfillment of these promises will be delayed by the reasons stated above.  It is this concern that made it imperative for us to compile this special report.  We felt that there was an urgent need to address these problems and the matter could not wait for the report on the whole inquiry.

This report does not pretend to address problems at all schools to which children of resettled people go.  It focuses only on the Ha Ratau Primary school and Ino Primary school which the Ombudsman visited following community complaints.

We therefore make the following recommendations:-

1.                  That LHDA completes the community-funded building at Ha Ratau Primary School so that it may be put to good use.

2.                That LHDA donates school furniture to this school after completing the new building.

3.                That LHDA makes a donation to the Ino Primary school in the form of window panes, ceiling and the plastering of the interior of the church building.

4.                That LHDA either effects the necessary alterations to the poultry building so that it becomes suitable for classrooms or erects a new building for two classes, whichever is the cheaper.

5.                That LHDA donates school furniture to the school in the form of desks and blackboards.

6.                That LHDA improves the well at Ha Mosotho from which children draw drinking water by properly covering it.  At the moment it is unprotected and thus poses danger to life.

7.                That LHDA considers donating/funding foot bridges on the rivers that pose a danger to the pupils going to the Ino Primary School.

8.                That LHDA makes such other donation, as it may consider appropriate given the circumstances of each school.

We learn that both these schools belong to churches.  Ratau Primary belongs to the Lesotho Evangelical Church and Ino Primary to the Roman Catholic Church.  We believe that the churches will most heartily welcome the proposed donations by LHDA.

These are my recommendations and I hope that they will be given due consideration.  The Ombudsman Act 1996 empowers me to stipulate periods of time within which my recommendations are to be carried out.  I hesitate to do that in this case.  I bank on LHDA’s judgment and sense of duty to the public.

  Should the Authority wish to discuss these recommendations with me please do not hesitate to let me know.

S.S. Mafisa

OMBUDSMAN

April 3, 2003