The Lesotho Football Association (LeFA) has been operating without the support of the Ministry of Sports in terms of financial funding and infrastructural support for several years now. And since 2021, following the ban of Setsoto Stadium by FIFA and CAF, LeFA has hosted all national team home games in foreign venues, primarily in South African stadiums.
The association has relied solely on funding from FIFA, CAF, FA, UEFA, and other international federations for its daily operations. Lesotho Football Association’s (LeFA) Secretary General, Mokhosi Mohapi, who sat down for a frank interview with Newsday Sports journalist Seabata Mahao, does not expect the situation to change any time soon, and he expects Likuena to continue playing its home matches on foreign lands for the foreseeable future.
In this wide-ranging interview, the out-spoken Mohapi pulls no punched as he also delves into various topical issues concerning the association, the current state of the national teams and the domestic leagues development among others.
NEWSDAY: How much money has LeFA spent for all of Lesotho’s national teams in hosting their home games in foreign land from 2021 to date?
MM: We have spent over M30 million for hosting our home games in South African stadiums and abroad. We played the regional tournaments, international tournaments, and friendly games in foreign lands.
NEWSDAY: How difficult has it been for the Association to host international matches outside the country for almost five years now? What inconveniences have LeFA experienced during this period of Setsoto Stadium’s ban?
MM: It has been very difficult for everyone involved in the game. For one, we all have to be on the road more than we would like, traveling from the base here at the LeFA Headquarters to almost everywhere in South Africa; be it Durban, Bloemfontein Gauteng, everywhere. Officials, players, and some very loyal football supporters have been forced to sleep in hotels in instances where the local games would have never forced them to sleep away. This has added more pressure on the delivery of a number of the Association activities due to the time spent away by key decision-makers.
By now I am sure that very little will happen regarding the refurbishment of the Setsoto Stadium, but without a stadium where the National Team plays its home matches, there is a ripple effect of football famishment of the requisite funding from FIFA. The situation is still dire, but some of us who understand how governments work are well prepared for the worst-case scenario.
The government wants to sell a narrative that only the football turf is a problem, whereas the problem is the ailing infrastructure as it sits. Yes, we need the playing surface, but then without the other infrastructure, we are doomed for now.
We are always on the road, having to delegate people from our office to go to South Africa then organise the matches, book accommodation for the team, the technical team, and transport, and we have to compensate everyone for being away from their working station.
NEWSDAY: In your view, what is holding the revamping and renovation of Setsoto Stadium?
MM: It involves the issue of payment to the contractor, which is not there. Adel Grass had previously left as they were not paid their requested money so now the Ministry of Sports have only paid a portion of the money, which is supposed to be paid to Adel Grass. Out of the requested M7 million they only paid M500 000, and last week they said they are ready to be on site. But that is not all, besides the turf inside the field, the infrastructure of the stadium needs to be renovated. There are so many areas to be fixed and the technical benches were new but they were left out so they are now cracked. LeFA paid to use the stadium just like other federations.
NEWSDAY: Is LeFA planning to enroll domestic league winners into the CAF Champions League for the 2024/25 season?
MM: We have an agreement with the premier league that if the situation is not like this, we have our mandate to develop and promote our football so we are going to look at the situation at that time and then our budget to see how far we can go. We looked at our funds because honestly, we have some money available now so we agreed that we would force it with what we have. We are not just not going to go at it as if we do not know what we are doing, we will go at it knowing what we should expect in the circumstances and we will finance it. We are not going to run this association for the sake of running it down, we need to make sure that we can do that and how.
NEWSDAY: What is the plan for the national teams this year?
MM: Next month we are going to play our away game against Bafana Bafana in Polokwane, South Africa in the World Cup qualifiers fixture however this will buy us time to see whether we have a listening government or not. The senior teams have fixtures in the coming months and we are going to carry on like we have been doing.
NEWSDAY: What is in store for the football fraternity as far as LeFA is concerned?
MM: The local football fraternity should expect the continued nomadic situation regarding Likuena and the team that will win the league as they endeavour into the CAF games. I do not see any change at all. I am an optimist, but I have a problem with those who decide for us. Other than that, one has to challenge the league management committees to wake up and smell the coffee before the league environment gets too monotonous.
NEWSDAY: Bahlabani and Makoanyane and the Girls U-20 have done well in COSAFA tournaments in recent years, what changed?
MM: Like I said, and honestly so, something known to me and you resulted in the underperformance of these teams. From my understanding of sports, this was because the coaches and team personnel had something in mind different from ours as an organisation. Let me be more open, some people want to succeed alone and not as a group, but this does not happen. It must be a team effort.
NEWSDAY: The mid-season registration period has been very exciting with the so-called smaller clubs like Lijabatho raiding some of the big guns in the likes of Matlama and LCS for their best players. Will this improve the level of competition in the league?
MM: This is what football should be. It should bring excitement and prelude the start of the second half of the season. You make mention of Matlama, Lijabatho, and LCS, ooh no, across all divisions. I always have a problem when we are seen to be talking within a limited bandwidth whereas we should be looking at the whole setup.
At the top, it has been busy, with a few days to go, there will be interesting movements locally and internationally. Peeping into the systems, I have seen some big-name players coming to join local teams and equally, so some big-name players are leaving our shores to the neighbouring countries.
As to whether it will bring competition to the league or leagues, this depends on innovation on the part of the league management. If there is no incentive to participate and compete, it will be business as usual, but if the league management innovates, then the transfers will have business sense.
Seabata Mahao is a general news reporter with special focus on Business and Sports.
Started working at Newsday in 2021.
has an Associate Degree in Journalism and Media.
