Metolong Authority Clarifies Labour Recruitment by its Contractors

Due to recent community protests at Metolong, the Metolong Authority would like to make the following announcement regarding labour recruitment by the contractors:

Metolong Authority (MA) has put in place a Labour Recruitment Strategy in order to facilitate recruitment of labour by its various contractors. According to this strategy, skilled labour can be recruited nationally and internationally if not available locally. However, contractors are required to establish recruitment offices away from site in order to avoid population influx that may affect the contractors’ activities, to facilitate recruitment and medical screening of labour and the associated social ills for the local communities. Unskilled labour may preferably but not exclusively be found from the communities around the construction works. Relevant Community Council Members, Dam Committee Members, Contractors’ Community Relations Officers (CRO) and MA Community Liaison Officers are there to facilitate recruitment of unskilled labour. It should be noted that employment at the gate or on site is strictly prohibited.

Apart from recruitment of labour, affected communities will enjoy direct benefits that include water supply and sanitation services (WATSAN) and rural electrification. The WATSAN project is meant to benefit 40 villages situated around the dam area in Machache, Tšoana-Makhulo and Thupa-Kubu Constituencies. Five villages that are adjacent to the Dam site have already benefited from Phase 1 of the WATSAN Project while a further 35 villages are intended to be supplied through Phase 2.

The Rural Electrification project is meant to benefit a total of 58 villages including those to be covered by the WATSAN Project.

The primary purpose of the Metolong Dam and Water Supply Programe (MDWSP) is to provide portable water in Bulk to Maseru, Teyateyaneng and the three peri-urban communities of Roma, Mazenod and Morija. In addition, it will also improve the reliability of water supply via existing reticulation to industries located in the Lesotho lowlands region.2

According to the design of Metolong’s Downstream Conveyance System (DCS), pipeline contracts include installation of branches and take-offs at certain points in the pipelines to facilitate future distribution of potable water to end users for the communities along the pipelines and for some other communities further away from the main pipelines. Subsequent distribution of potable water to end users and to the population along the routes of the main pipeline was never envisaged under the MDWSP. The actual construction of the distribution systems from these take-offs is the responsibility of other entities such as the Water and Sewerage Company (WASCO) and Department of Rural Water Supply (DRWS). If the distribution systems are constructed by the respective entities, 30 villages or more along the routes of the pipelines will benefit. More villages may be included if those Government entities identified them to be incorporated in good time before pipe laying is undertaken.

For more Information

For more information about the Metolong Programme, please contact the MA Public Relations Office at 29 Mabile Road, Red Cross Building Maseru or the MA Field Office at Metolong Ha-Seeiso, or call 22315789/58857048.