(December 8, 1999) The multimillion-rand Lesotho Highlands Water Project bribery trial, involving more than 20 international companies and individuals, will begin on May 2 next year and run for five months, the chief magistrate of Maseru said yesterday.
When big dams spell disaster: assessing the Lesotho Highlands Water Project
(December 1, 1999) The Lesotho Highlands Water Project has its origins in the apartheid era. Lesotho Highlands communities are supporting the project, despite the destruction it has caused to their homes and arable land. South African environmental organisations, however, oppose it for various reasons. Steve Rothert explains why this project challenges traditional perspectives about large dams and development.
Water project’s former CEO in court
(November 30, 1999) Two individuals, including Masupha Sole, and representatives of three international companies, appeared before the chief magistrate of Maseru yesterday on charges of alleged bribery amounting to R22m.
Givers and takers
(November 30, 1999) Most Taxpayers in the rich industrialized countries believe, as the Pearson Commission inquiry into foreign aid believed, that “it is only right for those who have to share with those who have not.” Much of the Western World’s sharing, though, has been in the form of loans, not gifts. The Third World has borrowed about one-third of the $400 billion in foreign aid that it has received from the rich countries’ national aid agencies.
Corrupt companies should be suspended from WB contracts
(November 29, 1999) Dam-building companies charged with corruption in a Lesotho court should be suspended from receiving World Bank contracts while they are under investigation, says International Rivers Network.
Wolfensohn will lose face if he gives nod to dirty dozen
(November 17, 1999) The simple issue on the agenda at a World Bank meeting in Pretoria is corruption – specifically the padding of Katse Dam construction costs by a "dirty dozen" of multinational corporations.
Funders ponder response to corruption
(October 21, 1999) The World Bank and other official financiers meet next month to discuss ways out of a corruption scandal reaching from the remote highlands of Lesotho to their own headquarters.
Philippine government to dismantle Marcos’ nuclear plant
(October 19, 1999) The debt-ridden Philippine government has decided to dismantle and sell the assets of the Bataan nuclear plant.
Swiss admission of supporting Apartheid
(October 14, 1999) The Swiss government has acknowledged that its refusal to impose sanctions on apartheid South Africa 15 years ago was indefensible.
PRESS RELEASE Philippine government to dismantle Marcos’ nuclear plant
(October 19, 1999) The debt-ridden Philippine government has decided to dismantle and sell the assets of the Bataan nuclear plant. The $2.3-billion (U.S. dollars throughout) plant, a painful reminder of the Ferdinand Marcos regime, costs Filipino taxpayers more than $170,000 a day in interest and accounts for more than 5 per cent of the country’s total debt.
In 1991, we proposed a way out of the Third World debt crisis. Now it’s happening.
(September 21, 1999) In 1997, after hearing about Probe International’s campaign to enforce the doctrine of odious debts, a group of South African activists knew they had found the answer to their quest for a just and principled stand against the accomplices to apartheid.
Jubilee 2000 campaign intensifies
(September 17, 1999) As the “100 days to the millennium” approaches, the anti-debt campaign, Jubilee 2000, has entered a period of intense activity.
Nigeria begins slow return from military rule
(September 3, 1999) President Olusegun Obasanjo intends to spend his 100th day in office working as usual, officials told AFP this week.
Acres International replies
(August 27, 1999) We feel compelled to correct the record as it has been characterized in Patricia Adams’ commentary. Ms. Adams refers to Acres International and suggests that monies were improperly paid by our company to an official with the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA). This is simply not the case. We did not make any such payments, and we have no knowledge of any improper transactions.
Truth panel will call Nigeria’s strongmen to account
(August 22, 1999) Nigeria is to investigate the sins of its military past in an unprecedented attempt to curb the power of the generals who have ruled for most of the years since independence.


