12 Mar Interview with Mohlomi Moleko, Minister of Natural Resources, Lesotho
What flagship projects are currently underway to expand Lesotho’s contributions to water access and sanitation in the country and southern Africa?
Lesotho is known as the water tower of the region within the Orange-Senqu River Water Commission, which encompasses Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa. Water is our main resource. Within the water basin, we occupy 3% of the land mass but provide more than 40% of the basin’s water. We currently have two main projects. The first is the Lesotho Highlands Water Project. We are currently building multipurpose infrastructure such as dams, water conveyance systems and tunnels for water supply to the biggest economic hub in Africa, the Gauteng region where Johannesburg is located. We supply water to around 8 million people in the region and its industrial complex. The project is critical in driving the largest economic hub in Africa.
Our second project is the Lesotho Botswana Water Transfer, which consists of a dam, hydropower station and 700-kilometer water conveyance system to Botswana. The conveyance system will also provide water for towns and cities along its route. The project underscores the strong regional cooperation between Lesotho and its neighbors and the nation’s significant contributions to the region’s economic activity. The infrastructure being built at both projects is multipurpose. For example, we want the new hydropower station to cater to fisheries, irrigation systems, potable water and tourism. In the first phase of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, we built hotels, excess roads, feeder roads, bridges, dams and a hydropower station. The second phase will extend these types of infrastructure and is ongoing.
We have another large project called the Lesotho Lowlands Water Development Project that provides water to the lowlands where most of our towns and cities are located. The project has multiple financiers. We aim to connect our water supply to difficult-to-reach regions with low populations and address their needs through the Department of Rural Water Supply. We must provide our people with water in pursuance of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 6, which involves providing clean water and sanitation for all. We currently supply around 79% of water to communities and 55% of water used for sanitation. As we ramp up our projects, we believe we have a strong chance of meeting the Sustainable Development Goal 6 by 2030.
We supply water to the hardest-to-reach places through the Department of Rural Water Supply. We also have smaller projects financed by our development partners that provide water to schools, health centers and other critical infrastructure. Spending and the pace and scope of our projects have drastically increased since they began. While some projects were stagnant for a few years, pace has grown rapidly since 2022; some projects deemed unsatisfactory by our development partners have now been approved as satisfactory.
What steps has the country taken to achieve its goal of becoming the world’s first digital and sustainable hydronation?
We kickstarted the vision to become the world’s first digital hydronation in October 2023 at the Water and Hydrogen in a Digital Future Conference and Expo. We aim to become the center of excellence for water; since we have the most water, we should know the most about water. We want to emphasize the provision of water for human development while capacitating our people through research. We want to educate our citizens on not just the value of water for drinking, but in terms of its industrial potential, such as hydrogen fuel manufacturing, oxygen production, fisheries and irrigation systems. We want to help the region understand its water and help them develop. We are assisting South Africa and Botswana with the water infrastructure through our strong engineering capacities; we have built dams and hydropower stations. We also want to emphasize water’s significance in replacing carbon-intensive energy with clean energy such as hydropower stations and solar.
After our conference, we received interest from many wanting to assist in our endeavor. We are supported by the World Bank and the African Development Bank. We are also partnering with the state of Utah in the USA. They will become the first digital hydro state, and we will become the first digital hydronation. We recently had a two-day workshop with consultants sent by the Finnish government and South Africa to assist in rolling out our vision. They pledged around $23 million to undertake this vision, with more expected as we proceed. Our first goal is to digitize our systems. We need data on the amount of water we have and who requires it. We aim to utilize new technologies such as blockchain and artificial intelligence. Financing is in place, and we have already begun. Our data will be a source of truth; all will have access to information on our water data. We want people from rural areas to share the same access as those from big towns, whether the information is about the weather, agricultural practices, how many boreholes we have, the quantity of water we have in our dams, the quantity of water being sold to South Africa or the quantity used in our industries. Alongside these efforts, we are digitizing our utility companies. We have prepaid digital meters that are replacing our postpaid meters. We are implementing digital tools to improve systems and avoid revenue loss from leakages and burst pipes.
What new developments are shaping Lesotho’s substantial mining sector?
Mining is an exciting space where challenges often lead to opportunities. While the global diamond industry has recently declined, there are prospects for a turnaround in the coming years. Due to low consumption of diamonds worldwide, artificial and lab-grown diamonds have taken a large chunk of the US market for low-luxury jewelry and rings. Fortunately, our diamonds are the best in the world and are used by brands such as Louis Vuitton and Van Cleef & Arpels. Whatever happens, we are future-proof because our diamonds will still be sold. Our four working mines contribute 8% of our country’s gross domestic product.
When I stepped up as minister, I did not understand why production of other extractives had not been explored. We have now begun geological reports. The potential for oil and gas exists, although we have yet to assess if we have commercial quantities. There is also potential to mine quantities of copper, cobalt, lead, manganese, coal and uranium. We are in the middle of South Africa and around 400 kilometers from Johannesburg where most of the South African diamond mines are located. There is no reason why we do not have everything they have. We need to perform proper geological studies and begin exploration. In 2023, we performed coal exploration and found the site to contain some of the highest quality coal in the world. We also found rare earth minerals, which is an exciting prospect. We need to review our Mines and Minerals Act to ensure this segment is investment friendly. We also need to ensure that the agreements we sign with investors remain responsible and sustainable. We require a mining social responsibility contract to ensure communities around the mines are taken care of and are involved in the project’s value chain. Contracts must consider the project’s lifespan beyond the mining cycle and the mine’s rehabilitation.
How vital are strong relations with neighboring countries to Lesotho’s economic growth?
We collaborate because water is a shared resource. The first anchor of our collaboration is the Lesotho Highlands Water Treaty that pertains to Article 58 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The treaty includes several main requirements. Under Article 4.1, we are required to build dams and water infrastructure that transfer water to South Africa. We must also ensure every drop of water going to South Africa comes through a hydropower station. Article 4.2 requires that — without prejudice to Article 4.1 — we should provide potable water for people, fisheries, agriculture and tourism activities. We have built hotels around dams and made them multipurpose for this reason.
The Lesotho-Botswana Water Transfer Project is governed by the Orange-Senqu River Basin Commission (ORASECOM), which consists of three commissioners from Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and Lesotho. We are collaborating with these larger countries because we have what they need, water. Currently, a substantial amount of royalties come from South Africa, which account for around 15% of our budget. Once we complete the Lesotho-Botswana Water Transfer Project, our income will more than double. We will become a net exporter of clean energy within the next two years. We are currently building solar farms with battery storage, wind farms and our second hydropower station. Our excess energy will be exported to South Africa and the region to assist with difficulties in electricity capacity.
How is the country strengthening its tourism sector while capitalizing on its natural resources?
We also want feasibility studies to be performed for the tourism sector and specific areas zoned depending on what we can build. We also need to collaborate with the Minister of Public Works and Transport to make sure all identified sites can be reached by roads. Lesotho is a unique country in the sense that our lowest point — which is more than a thousand meters above sea level — is the highest lowest point of any country in the world. We are among the few countries in the world — if not the only — to have a ski resort where it is sunny while it snows. The terrain is beautiful. We aim to explore high-altitude training for international athletes. We have built a high-altitude training center that will soon be operational and have the potential to increase the number of these facilities. Lesotho is a cheap and rewarding travel destination compared to others in Africa.
What are your top priorities as Minister of Natural Resources in 2025 and beyond?
By the end of this year, we hope to undertake some targeted geological surveys to begin exploration. We need to know if the amount of minerals we have is commercially viable. Critical minerals were a key topic at the recent Mining Indaba Summit in Cape Town. Surveys and exploration will help us unlock our mining potential and diversify the industry. Additionally, we want to ensure the solar farms we are building are completed. While some are complete, we require supporting battery storage to make their usage stable and reliable. We also want to finish serious feasibility studies to expand our transmission network throughout the country and — more importantly — upgrade our transmission from Lesotho into South Africa, which is almost at maximum capacity. This expansion is crucial if we are to evacuate our excess power into South Africa and the region. We also hope to continue our collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition and the Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Culture. We aim to zone areas around our dams for agricultural projects. We also have the Millennium Challenge Account MCA-Lesotho — a project assisted by the American government — to develop large-scale irrigation systems.
Why is Lesotho an attractive destination for foreign investment?
Despite its size, Lesotho offers significant opportunities in critical minerals and hydrogen manufacturing, supported by its abundant water resources. Additionally, the nation is an ideal location for data centers due to its high elevation, cool temperatures and stable clean electricity. With the country becoming a net exporter of clean energy, companies would not be burdened with carbon taxes. We see that many are building data centers elsewhere due to lack of proper research. We are also the first country in Africa to legalize medicinal cannabis. Lesotho is known as the kingdom in the sky due to our high elevation and abundant sunlight, which heavily contributes to us having some of the best cannabis in the world. We are now starting to export medicinal cannabis to pharmaceutical companies in Germany and Australia and are also exporting dry flower to Israel. Demand for medicinal cannabis is high, and current production facilities are not yet meeting demand. Now is the right time to invest in Lesotho due to our stable government, which has given hope to Basotho through their ambitious development agenda.