By Neo Kolane
The abandonment of plans for Lesotho to host the botched controversial 2020 African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region Five Youth Games has left the residents of Hatabutle in Roma in misery.
This after the earthworks at the area were left incomplete when the construction companies engaged in the excavation abandoned the project for construction of a 3 000 unit games village, a 4 000 football and athletic stadium and the National University of Lesotho (NUL) recreational centre as well as the tennis courts.
Also, the plan was to construct a 1 200 united for residency and renovation of the already existing 1 800 units at NUL.
Due to the abandoned works the area was left with trenches which are filled with water during rainy days, negatively impacting on the houses of the residents. Some of the houses are cracked due to heavy moisture from the trenches left gaping.
The discontinued construction began in 2019 and has negatively affected more than 30 households as the excavation works have not been rehabilitated since the companies left.
The 9th edition of the Region 5 Youth games was scheduled to run from December 3-12 last year in Maseru.
The new stadium and indoor sports arena which were supposed to be constructed at Lepereng, in Lithabaneng would have comprised a seating capacity of 40,000.
At first, only 20 000 would be constructed and would have a track while the indoor sports arena would accommodate 3 000 spectators and cater for different indoor sporting codes such as basketball, netball and volleyball among others.
The overall cost of the infrastructure facilities would have forked out M2.4 billion.
The three developers; NEPCO II, Design Edge and MFT were forced to halt construction works in Roma soon after completing earthworks at Lepereng and NUL as Property2000 allegedly failed to pay them. This forced the government to look for an alternative financier.
During the construction, the project was to bandied to generate both temporary and permanent job opportunities for locals as the developments would remain as landmarks.
The contractors appointed for the construction of this sporting facility were appointed based on merits and not corruption, noting that local companies should also be considered as sub-contractors so to promote skills transfer for locals.
However, the abandoned project at Hatabutle in Roma has left some residents fuming as their housing properties are being damaged.
Their area is now perpetually waterlogged, posing a threat to houses.
Some houses have cracked while others are damp inside. Others have a distinctive musty smell with mould or mildew on walls, floors and ceilings.
The houses are moist inside due to water that covers the area following heavy previous rains.
One villager Lekholoa Bokaako told the publication that following years of prolonged damp and cold rooms, students who used to rent their flats no longer stay for long.
Bokaako explained that the houses are built on a hard rock making it easy for the water to flow into the ground. He said water from the unrestored excavations “flows down into the village because the surface is slightly tilted.”
Bokaako has currently dug a trench so that during the rainy season, the water flows into the nearby donga.
“The dampness brings cold in different households. We have to wear blankets to keep ourselves warm due to the damp conditions in our houses so as to stay healthy.
“We have not tried to cover those unrestored excavations because we do not have the capacity to, do so. The contractors were using machinery like excavators,” Bokaako explained.
Some of the villagers complained that they fear that one day they will wake up with no roofs above their heads as the properties might collapse.
Others have to empty their pit-latrines twice in a month a practice they were not used to before such works were carried out as part of implementing the games’ project.
It has become difficult for septic truck drivers to empty the latrines as the vehicles might be draped in the mud.
For his part, the chief of Hatabutle Khoaele Lekarapa said that the response they received from NUL was that it cannot start the AUSC Region 5 games before closing the unrestored excavations.
Lekarapa said NUL had just promised to rehabilitate the area but nothing has come out since then.
“We have been abandoned by the former minister of sports, youth, gender and recreation (MSYGR) Mahali Phamotse and the current minister Likeleli Tampane.
“Tampane talked as if it is only one person from the village who is complaining and pretends it is only a single individual who is in this predicament,” Lekarapa said.
He accused the construction companies that started works in the area of leaving them in the doom.
He added that if the residence were built as it should have been, there would not have been any water oozing from the ground in their yards.
A source at NUL who talked on condition of anonymity as she was not authorised to comment could only say the project was a brain child of the ministry of gender, youth, sports and recreation which was also to oversee the its implementation.
The high-ranking source added that the decision to implement the project at NUL was taken by the government.
She said NUL was not to shoulder any responsibility over the planned developments that remained unfulfilled.
Approached for comment, the ministry’s public relations officer Maqalika Matsepe told theReporter that the matter has since been handed over to the ministry of public works which is now responsible for repairing and restoring the land affected by the doomed AUSC project.
