Department of Water and Sanitation
Phase 1A of the project included the construction of the 185m-high double-curvature concrete arch Katse Dam.
Water and sanitation minister Nomvula Mokonyane
is at the centre of the ‘Watergate’ scandal.
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Water Sewage & Effluent November/December 2016
Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who took over the
reins from Madonsela in mid-October.
Mokonyane is alleged to have
personally intervened to delay the Lesotho
Highlands Water Project by at least a
year to accommodate the involvement
of a company called LTE Consulting. It
has been revealed that LTE Consulting
is a funder of the ruling African National
Congress party.
According to various media reports,
senior officials from both South Africa and
Lesotho claim that the project delay was
a deliberate ploy by Mokonyane to buy
time for LTE Consulting to get involved.
The company is said to already have
been the beneficiary of R5-billion worth
of projects from the Department of Water
and Sanitation; some of which are the
subject of a Special Investigating Unit
probe ordered by President Jacob Zuma.
It has also been alleged that officials who
opposed the delays have been fired from
the project.
For her part, Mokonyane has dismissed
the allegations as a “peddling of lies” by