‘Mantṧali Phakoana
Dozens of households from seven remote villages under Ramapepe community council in Leribe district are angry that they are still in the dark eight years after they started paying contributions to have electricity in their homes.
The villagers say they have been asking the government to connect them to the grid since 2015 when they formed the Lisolane electricity scheme, but nothing has happened since then.
The scheme was formed by households from the seven villages of Ha-Letseka, ‘Mamotjepela, Matona, Maroala, Mosuoane, ‘Malekutu and Mokhachane under Thaba-Phatṧoa constituency, Leribe. The villages cut across the Tsoinyane river.
The villagers are working with ministry of energy under the Lesotho Rural Electrification Project as part of government efforts to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 7, which aims to provide affordable and clean energy to people in member states by 2030.
The energy ministry says a staggering M9 billion is required if government plans to electrify all Basotho households are to be achieved by then.
The ministry reveals that the process of electrifying rural areas under village schemes started in 2001 after the government conducted a study of its terrain and map layout.
According to the World Bank, at least 47 percent of Lesotho’s 2.2 million people had access to electricity in 2020, a huge jump from just 4.3 percent two decades previously.
The target is to cover these within the next eight years.
In 2010, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states including Lesotho adopted the Regional Energy Access Strategy and Action Plan, aiming to combine resources to ensure the entire region has access to affordable, sustainable electricity.
However, despite these plans and efforts by the government, the level of rural household electrification and affordability are still low in Lesotho.
The Thaba-Phatṧoa constituency villagers said after forming a consumer group and pooling their financial resources together, they expected that the government would move in to provide them with electricity within reason time.
A Ha-Matona villager, ‘Makabelo Mabesa told theReporterrecently that life without electricity has never been easy.
She said their lives were worsened by lack of roads, water taps, toilets, and schools.
The villagers use solar panels for charging phones and paraffin lamps or candles to light their households.
Charging phones with solar panels is not reliable especially during winter or rainy seasons because the sunlight is weak, they said.
Mabesa who works in South Africa as a domestic worker noted that life was difficult for her because she sometimes spends more than a week without communicating with her children because they would be unreachable on the phone.
“This is very worrying. Sometimes it takes a week or more for them to be reachable, especially during rainy days when it is difficult to charge phones using solar energy. I can’t even focus on my job,” she said.
It was also hard for the villagers’ children to study without electricity, said the concerned mother, adding that paraffin lamps do not provide enough light and they are not healthy for the eyes.
Mabesa said in 2015 when she heard there was a scheme that might transform their lives, and that each household was expected to contribute at least M500, either cash or in instalment, she did hesitate to join the group for fear of being swindled.
She eventually decided to join and a few months later she had paid her full M500 contribution. But since then, successive governments have failed to electrify their homes.
Mabesa further indicated that with her M2500 monthly salary, she would love to buy perishable food like meat for her children to last them until her next pay day but this is not possible because she does not have a fridge.
The area’s rural electrification scheme committee members have now also lost hope as governments keep changing after elections and nothing is done to connect them.
Chairperson of the scheme, ‘Matsoakae Mohobo from Ha Mosuoane village told theReporter that 55 households have paid M500 in full while 15 have made partial payments of not less than M250.
According to Mohobo, the requirement was that if the number of households who pay their full contribution of R500 reach 45, the government would be able to meet them half way and connect them to the power grid.
She said they were urged to establish a scheme to make it easy for the government to electrify their villages.
The villagers claimed that they have approached relevant government authorities to intervene but without success.
“We have been complaining for a very long time but no one seems to be hearing us. The authorities keep making promises that we’ll get electricity, but until today we’re still in the dark,” Mohobo said.
She also noted that they were surprised to learn that three villagers from their area were set to be electrified soon after the announcement of the 2023-2024 fiscal budget earlier this year. Their expectations were that they would also be included since they had been waiting for many years.
After they were left out, Mohobo said the committee members approached the Thaba-Phatṧoa legislator, Thabo Maretlane, who told them to be patient as their time would also come.
“We feel neglected and we’ve now lost hope. It’s like our MPs are focusing only on their villages or those nearby but when they want our votes during election time, they are able to reach to us.”
She said that most households were losing their livestock to thieves who take advantage of the darkness.
It was also difficult for the villagers to use torches or mobile phones to check on the animals if the batteries of these gadgets are flat, she said.
Contacted for comment this week, Thaba-Phatṧoa legislator, Thabo Maretlane said he had just been informed about the scheme but does not have all the details.
“I will have a meeting with the committee members this weekend,” Maretlane said.
One mini-market owner, ‘Marethabile Makara said they are forced to use gas deep freezes which are expensive.
“Once it gets dark, it is not easy to help customers using a candle or a paraffin lamp. Life in general is difficult without electricity,” she noted.
But project manager at the Rural Electrification Unit under the ministry of natural resources, Leloko Mokhutṧoane said the Thaba-Phatṧoa constituency scheme members have not been connected because they have not yet raised the required funds so that the government can meet them half way.
The rural electrification project is part of the government’s initiatives to ensure increased access to electricity, he explained.
Speaking with theReporter on Wednesday this week, Mokhutṧoane said according to their records, 132 households had registered for the scheme, collectively contributing M64,122 by 2020.
This amount is not enough to supply the villages with electricity, he pointed out.
Mokhutṧoane further indicated that the villagers had not brought forward any new information regarding the scheme or inform the ministry if they have raised any additional money towards the project.
“We encourage communities to set up schemes because this makes it easy for the government to implement the electrification project in villages and reach more people at a go,” he said.
According to government policy, villagers are expected to contribute M2000 per household or pay a minimum of M500 with the remaining balance to be settled as customers purchase electricity over a period of seven years.
At least 70 percent of households in each village are required to pay at least M500 before they can be connected. However, this does not always apply as the expectation would be that customers will still pay for electricity even after, Mokhutṧoane said, adding that lack of adequate funds caused delays in connecting consumers.
