… but his own letter undermines claim
Khotso Mahloko, the volleyball coach handed a ten-year suspension by the Lesotho Volleyball Association (LVA) following allegations of sexual assault involving minor players, has issued a letter of demand to Newsday Media threatening legal action over this publication’s July 2022 report on the matter.
In the letter dated 29 May 2026 – nearly four years after the original article was published – Mahloko demands a full retraction, removal of the article from all platforms, a public apology, and payment of M1,500,000.00 in compensation, claiming the report was false and defamatory.
In a response to Mahloko this week, Newsday News Editor Kananelo Boloetse said: “We respectfully decline your demand for retraction, apology, and payment of M1,500,000.00. We maintain that the article was a reasonable and accurate report on a matter of public interest, based on your own publicly available correspondence, the actions of the relevant sporting bodies, and your own decision to decline to comment when invited to do so.”
Boloetse added: “We note your threat to institute legal proceedings. Should you proceed, Newsday Media reserves all its rights, including the right to rely on the defences of truth and public interest, reasonable publication, and absence of malice.”
Coach’s own letter formed basis of report
Mahloko contends that the article falsely stated or implied he had been charged with sexual assault and appeared in court, and that claims of multiple victims coming forward were fabricated. He further states he was never arrested, charged, or appeared before any court in relation to sexual assault.
On the question of criminal charges, Newsday acknowledges that no case was formally enrolled in court. The complaint was withdrawn by the victim and her family. The original article reported this fact, noting that “the case was dropped.”
“We therefore refute the contention that the publication stated or implied that you were criminally charged, arrested, or appeared in a criminal court for sexual assault. The article reported that a case was withdrawn and that you had been subjected to internal disciplinary processes by the LVA. There is a clear and material distinction, and we believe that an ordinary, reasonable reader would have understood this,” Boloetse said.
He further indicated that the article was based on correspondence that Mahloko himself addressed to the Lesotho Sports and Recreation Commission (LSRC).
In that letter, Mahloko wrote: “Following the withdrawal of a suspicious case on allegation of sexual harassment against me by one of my former athletes, the Lesotho Volleyball Association (LVA) on the basis of the ongoing case wrote me a show cause letter why I could not be suspended.”
Boloetse explained that it was on this basis that the article reported on the matter.
“The Lesotho Volleyball Association (LVA) had clearly initiated proceedings against you based on allegations of sexual assault. The LVA wrote to you requiring you to show cause why you should not be suspended. These are disciplinary proceedings based on the very allegations that you now claim have caused you harm. The article did not invent these allegations,” he said.
Semantics over ‘sexual-assault charged’
Boloetse said Mahloko appeared to have taken issue with the phrase “sexual-assault charged volleyball coach”.
“We submit that this is a matter of semantics and that the phrase, in the context of the article, is not synonymous with a formal criminal charge laid by the state,” he said.
He indicated that the phrase was used in its ordinary, lay sense to describe a coach who faces allegations of sexual assault and who was the subject of disciplinary proceedings initiated by the LVA based on those allegations.
“The LVA ‘charged’ you in the sense that it invoked its internal disciplinary mechanisms against you. This is clear from your own letter in which you acknowledge the show cause letter from the LVA,” he said.
Suspension remains in effect
The ten-year ban imposed on Mahloko by the LVA following a show-cause process remains on record. In a letter by the then LVA Secretary General, Sebolelo Ntlhokoe, dated 12 July 2022, all LVA clubs and members were formally notified of the suspension.
Former LVA Vice President Administration Masoli Khoanyane, who was quoted by name in the original article, stated at the time that the association would not condone any form of abuse in the sport.
Khoanyane, who served on the executive at the time and was also the volleyball team Lesotho manager, confirmed to Newsday last week that a complaint was in fact made.
“There was indeed a case,” Khoanyane said. “It ended up not making it to court because the victim said she forgave Mahloko and the case was withdrawn.”
The withdrawal of a complaint by a victim who has chosen to forgive her alleged abuser is not, in law or in journalism, evidence that the events did not occur. It is a choice made by the victim.
Mahloko’s letter makes no mention of the fact that he had a formal opportunity to contest his suspension. Khoanyane confirmed that Mahloko did exactly that.
“He had an opportunity to challenge the suspension at the LVA’s Annual General Meeting in that same year, which he did, but the executive continued to stand by it,” Khoanyane said.
The ten-year ban, Khoanyane confirmed, remains in effect to this day.
Independent investigation led to LNOC dismissal
Perhaps the most significant development concerns what happened after Newsday’s original report. A reliable source within the LNOC, who asked not to be named, has confirmed that the LNOC conducted a formal investigation into the matter, as its then-CEO Morake Raleaka had previously promised.
The investigation panel was notably independent and multi-institutional, comprising an independent investigator from Senegal, an inspector from the Child and Gender Protection Unit (CGPU) of the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS), and a representative from Women and Law in Southern Africa.
According to the source, it was the findings of that investigation that directly led to Mahloko being released from his duties at the LNOC and being completely expelled from sport.
Mahloko’s demand letter claims his termination from the LNOC was a consequence of Newsday’s article. The source’s account suggests it was, in fact, a consequence of what investigators found.
Raleaka could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
Four-year silence before legal threat
Mahloko did not challenge the article at the time of publication. He did not seek a right of reply, despite being offered the opportunity before the original story ran – an offer he declined. He did not approach this publication at any point in the four years that followed.
The demand letter now arrives as his legal threats seek to rewrite a record that multiple institutions – including the LVA, the LNOC, and an independent multi-agency investigation panel – have already acted upon.
This publication reported on a matter of profound public interest: the safety of minor athletes in the care of those in positions of authority over them. Everything reported was grounded in documented correspondence, official LVA records, named senior sources, and the subject’s own written statements.
Summary
- We maintain that the article was a reasonable and accurate report on a matter of public interest, based on your own publicly available correspondence, the actions of the relevant sporting bodies, and your own decision to decline to comment when invited to do so.
- “Following the withdrawal of a suspicious case on allegation of sexual harassment against me by one of my former athletes, the Lesotho Volleyball Association (LVA) on the basis of the ongoing case wrote me a show cause letter why I could not be suspended.
- “We submit that this is a matter of semantics and that the phrase, in the context of the article, is not synonymous with a formal criminal charge laid by the state,” he said.
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