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Lesotho Dammed
By Rageh Omaar
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It is one of the largest construction projects in the world, in the heart of one of the smallest and poorest countries in Africa. The premise at the heart of the Lesotho Highland Water Project was simple from its inception in 1986. The tiny mountainous Kingdom was blessed with plentiful supplies of water. It's giant neighbour, South Africa, which completely surrounds it, needed water. And so the project was born.
It is the most massive infrastructure scheme in Africa, involving a series of six huge dams which when completed would provide South Africa with water and Lesotho with electricity. It is gargantuan in scale. One of the dams, in Katse, is the tallest dam in Africa standing at 186 metres, the equivalent of a 53 storey building, there are 260 kilometres of water tunnels, hundreds of kilometres in tarmac roads have been built, bridges, electricity transfer stations. Companies from 9 western countries are involved as well as the World Bank, the European Union and other financial institution who have so far provided nearly 拢3 billion in funding.
It claims to be "Africa's biggest ongoing success story". But instead all the headlines have been about corruption, bribery and international scandal. The Lesotho government have brought legal proceedings against many of the western contracting companies alleging that they have been involved paying money to the former Chief Executive of the Lesotho Highlands Development Agency, Mr Masuph a Sole.
The governments allege that he held a number of Swiss Bank accounts where irregular payments were made through middlemen. A number of British companies including; Balfour Beatty, Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners, Keir International and Stirling International were part of consortiums who the Lesotho government allege "wrongfully, unlawfully and corruptly" made payments to Mr Sole. Both Mr Sole and the companies are vigorously contesting the claims in the court and say they were not involved in any wrongdoing.
But there is more to this story than the all-too-familiar association with Africa and corruption. This is a test case. One in which the government of Lesotho believes it is turning a page in this continent.
This is not another case of an African state official being tried for alleged corruption. This is the first time on this continent that an African government wants international companies alleged to be involved to also answer questions and be accountable. "It takes two to tango", Lesotho's Attorney General Lebokhang Fine Maema, told the Today Programme . He said that his government wants to target corruption not just through officials that may have accepted money, but also through the companies who are alleged to have given the money in the first place.
The legal arguments have being going back and forth for at least 3 years now. There are arguments over whether the Lesotho High Court had the jurisdiction to hear the cases. The international companies also wanted the court to define what constitutes bribery. But the Lesotho government has told Today that it is determined, and it won't be outspent by anyone in court. They say they will pursue this for as long as it takes.
We approached Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners for a comment, but they declined.
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