Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina is this weekend leading a South African delegation to Lesotho for an oversight visit to assess progress on Phase II of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP).
The Minister is accompanied by Deputy Minister David Mahobo and Deputy Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Seiso Mohai.
The delegation is scheduled to meet Lesotho’s Minister of Natural Resources, Mohlomi Moleko.
Majodina will be joined on the two-day visit beginning on Saturday, 14 December 2025, by representatives of the Lesotho Highlands Water Commission, on behalf of the two countries, as well as the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA), which is the implementing agency for the project.
The oversight visit will include inspections of key infrastructure sites, including the Polihali Dam construction site, the Katse Dam Outfall Tunnel system, and the Senqu Bridge, among other infrastructure associated with the project.
The Minister will also lead bilateral consultation meetings to discuss project progress and ensure the continued success of the landmark initiative.
The LHWP remains central to strengthening bilateral relations between South Africa and the Kingdom of Lesotho, while advancing development and economic prosperity in both countries.
The project involves the construction of a network of tunnels and dams to transfer water from the Orange–Senqu River in the Lesotho highlands to South Africa, and to use the water-delivery system to generate hydro-electric power in the Kingdom of Lesotho.
Phase II of the water transfer component includes the construction of an approximately 165-metre-high concrete-faced rockfill dam at Polihali, located downstream of the confluence of the Khubelu and Senqu-Orange Rivers, as well as an approximately 38 kilometre concrete-lined gravity tunnel linking the Polihali and Katse reservoirs.
Upon completion, Phase II will increase the annual water transfer from Lesotho to South Africa by an additional 490 million cubic metres, raising total transfers from the current 780 million cubic metres per year to make it 1260 million cubic metres per year. The additional water will feed into South Africa’s Integrated Vaal River System (IVRS).
“The IVRS is the biggest system in the country, which supplies water to our economic hub of Gauteng and comprises 14 dams with catchments in four provinces, namely Free State, Northern Cape, Mpumalanga, and North West, with the Polihali dam becoming the 15th dam in the system,” the department said in a statement on Saturday.
Earlier this month, the Ministers responsible for water from the four Orange–Senqu River Basin states have reiterated their shared commitment to safeguarding the river basin as a strategic resource underpinning regional water security, climate resilience, economic development, and ecological sustainability.
The visit will conclude on Sunday, 15 December 2025. – SAnews.gov.za
