P&T Garments located in Mafeteng will resume operations upon the completion of the Makhaleng dam, leader of the Movement for Economic Change (MEC), Selibe Mochoboroane has said.

He was addressing his followers on Sunday at a political rally that was held in the Qalabane constituency in Mafeteng.

Mochoboroane who is also the Minister of Development Planning said the dam would be built in Mohale’s Hoek with the financial assistance of the World Bank and the European Union (EU).

As he is about to leave his cabinet position for the new government to be formed after the October 7 general elections, he said everything was in place for the construction of the dam to commence in January 2023.

“Now a feasibility study and design of the dam have been completed,” he said, adding that the completion of the dam would be a breakthrough for the factory to resume its operations.

He said he conducted a research to establish the reason the factory was shut down in the first place, leaving scores jobless and hundreds trapped in wretched poverty.

“My findings revealed that the district of Mafeteng does not have enough water to get the factory up and running in full swing,” he said.

Upon completion of the dam, water woes in the southern districts of Mafeteng, Mohale’s Hoek and Quthing will be a thing of the past.

“I no longer want to hear any stories of the firm not operating after the completion of the dam,” Mochoboroane said.

This is, after the people of Mafeteng demanded to know as to what the minister was planning to do with the factory that was shut down in 2010.

The community complained about wallowing in virulent poverty as there are no jobs in the district to put bread on their table.

About 2 300 people directly lost their jobs when that factory closed its doors to business over 12 years ago.

Mochoboroane said the people of Mafeteng have to work in that firm and refrain from relocating to other districts in search of job opportunities.