The first part of the formal inquiry conducted by the Ombudsman into over 100 complaints regarding compensation of communities affected by the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) ended at the National Convention Centre (NCC) on Wednesday, February 19, 2003 with compensation for communal assets, threshold payment and resettlement in general dominating the discussions. Most of the complaints put forward by the communities affected by the mammoth Project were similar to those presented in the first day of the inquiry and included delayed payment of compensation for communal assets, gardens, threshold payment and the poor and shoddy workmanship on the houses built for them by the Project, and lack of basic household equipment such as stoves supposed to have been provided by the Project.

The United Nations Children’s Fund has launched the 2003 State of the World’s Children Report that focuses on the merits and necessities of child participation in all matters affecting them. The report was launched in Maseru, Lesotho. The report calls on adults ‘to seek out the perspectives and opinions of children and to take their viewpoints seriously, in order to help children and adolescents to develop the ability to participate in the world in a competent, authentic and meaningful way’.