Lesotho's blue gold

Many people in the highlands are living on government handouts

BBC Radio 4's Crossing Continents was broadcast on Thursday, 7 August, and will be repeated on Monday, 10 August, 2003, at 2030 BST.

It was supposed to bring water to South Africa and electricity to the small kingdom of Lesotho.

Dreamed up in the Apartheid era, the Lesotho Highlands Water Project is the biggest of its kind in Africa.

PICTURE GALLERY

Lesotho Highlands Water Project

In pictures

But the ambitious multi-billion dollar project is now embroiled in an unprecedented series of trials as impoverished Lesotho takes powerful western companies to court for bribery and corruption.

The project also faces accusations of harming the environment, of failing to compensate people as promised and of destroying livelihoods.

Esther Armah travels to the mountain kingdom of Lesotho to see who benefits from the country's blue gold.

The programme will be repeated on Monday, 11 August, 2003 at 2030 BST.

Presenter: Esther Armah
Producer: John Murphy
Editor: Hugh Levinson