Press Release

February 27^th 2004

Ha Tsiu. “The project’s primary motive is to improve your life so that you have more money in your pockets which is economic empowerment.” With these words, Transformation Resource Centre’s (TRC) Board member Professor ‘Femi Dele Akindele described the NGO’s piggery project designed to help 14 Ha Tsiu families resettled to the fringes of the Mohale Dam by the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA). On Friday the 27^th the project was officially handed over to the community by TRC Director Ms Motseoa Senyane.

TRC has bought nine piglets from local Basotho farmers for the community. These are expected to be the beginning of what is envisaged to be a major future pig farm and a true example of the potential of community self reliance. The community collected stones and dug trenches for the building of the sties. The project is sponsored by the UK-based NGO PANOS, to the tune of M16 000.00.

The official handover by the TRC Director Ms Senyane is the culmination of several months of hard work by the community with TRC’s assistance and motivation.

“When you are making decisions on what to do with your pigs – sell them or slaughter them - make sure the disagreements are not based on monetary conflicts. Please, please don’t come into conflict”, pleaded Director Senyane.

Deputy manager Maile Maile from the Field Operation Branch Mohale (FOB) expressed his joy about TRC’s engagement in Ha Tsiu. “I am glad TRC has practically helped in this project”, said Maile. He urged the community to not only use the pigs but also their dung, since it makes a good fertilizer for planting crops.

On behalf of the community in Ha Tsiu Mpho Khama thanked TRC, namely Jacob Lenka and Mothusi Seqhee, who were responsible for implementing the project. Mpho also reported on the difficulties in making the idea of the pigsty come true. “The problem was acquiring stones, because there was no manpower – most have gone to work for the Lesotho Highlands Water Project.” As a result only three of the projected four sties were built. “We hope and pray that we will be able to build more”, Mpho ended his speech.

The piggery project is TRC’s vital response to the community’s living needs as their relocation took them away from arable land and access to good rangelands for their animals. The new settlement, with lower prospects for traditional rural economic livelihood would always present daunting challenges for the communities. The community’s response however, demonstrated greater unity and a refreshing resolve to take their destiny into their own hands.

For TRC, the completion of the project is one of its numerous interventions which symbolize milestones in its resettlement mission as it includes the economic re-establishment of the relocates. This response is also part of TRC’s rehabilitation obligation to train communities in self-help projects. Further, the project is a crucial building block in the compensation and resettlement exercise between TRC and the LHDA.

TRC is a non-governmental, ecumenical and non profit-making organisation committed to peace, justice, human rights, participatory sustainable development and democracy. TRC work is done through its four projects namely the Democracy, Human Rights and Civic Education Project, the Information and Communication Project, the Library and Resource Centre Project as well as the Lesotho Highlands Water Monitoring, Advocacy and Empowerment Project. It is under the latter project, which monitors the impact of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) that the piggery project falls. The affected communities are empowered with knowledge of their rights and obligations in relation to compensation, resettlement and rural development issues.

TRC’s partnership with PANOS has also resulted in the publication of books on the problems and challenges facing the resettled communities as well as the chronicling of the long journey the communities have traveled since the start of the LHWP.