By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP) tunnel system in the Free State has been reopened after a seven-month maintenance shutdown.
The LHWP tunnel system was shut down on 1 October 2024 for a six-month joint maintenance operation.
Minister of Water and Sanitation Pemmy Majodina presided over the reopening of the Lesotho Highlands Water Tunnel, marking the end of a R320 million maintenance project that lasted seven months—one month longer than initially anticipated.
The project involved work undertaken by the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA) on the Delivery Tunnel North within South Africa, and the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA) on the Transfer and Delivery South Tunnels in Lesotho.
The tunnel was scheduled to reopen in March this year, but due to maintenance work delays experienced in the Delivery Tunnel South on the side of Lesotho, the closure was extended to allow the maintenance work to be completed.
Maintenance work on the South African side was completed on schedule and finalised on 19 March 2025.
Department of Water and Sanitation’s Mandla Mathebula says the maintenance on the South African side was completed in March, however the delay was on the Lesotho side.
Mathebula highlighted that the tunnel system plays a crucial role in supplying water to the Free State and Gauteng provinces, contributing over 400 million cubic meters (mᵌ) of water to the Vaal Dam, annually.
With the tunnel now operational, water flow into South Africa’s Vaal River System is expected to stabilize.
Majodina emphasized the necessity of the maintenance, stating that further delays would have risked long-term infrastructure failures.
The minister says the tunnel is now fit to operate for another five years.
Majodina says she’s pleased that, despite the tunnel being out of service for seven months, the country did not experience a water shortage.
Treaty on the Lesotho Highlands Water Project between the Kingdom of Lesotho and South Africa was signed at Maseru, 24 October 1986.
Percy Sechemane CEO of the Trans Caledon Tunnel Authority – which operates the tunnel – says his teams ensured that dam levels remained sufficient during the maintenance period.
“The reason why we were confident that there won’t be any crisis in South Africa is because the Vaal River Integrates System [IVRS] is made up of 14 dams. Some are balancing dams and some are storage dams. So we had, as South Africa, pre-empted the risk that we needed to mitigate ensuring we pump enough water into those storage dams.”