Mikia Kalati
THE Lesotho Sports and Recreation Commission (LSRC) went for polls last weekend and elected the new executive that will be led by advocate Jobo Raswoko, who takes over from Khiba Mohoanyane as the new president.
Raswoko is deputised by Moipone Mashale. The two are not new to the leadership of the sports mother body and a lot will be expected from them to take the standards of local sports to another level.
Their election came as a bit of a surprise as most people had been looking at Bahlakoana Shelile and Caswell Moru to take their posts having both publicly spoken of their ambitions.
However, I think it’s a very strong committee taking into consideration that they have other commissioners, who did not make it into the committee but are also part of the LSRC leadership who will be expected to usher in a new era of sports administration.
Of course, their biggest task will be working with the Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports and Recreation and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) in ensuring that Lesotho succeeds in staging the 2020 African Union Sports Council (AUSC Region 5 Games).
The country will not be expecting success only in the staging of the games but also on the field of play as local athletes will be having the home ground advantage.
Apart from that, lack of infrastructure remains the biggest problem for sports in the country and we are all looking at the new committee to invest efforts towards improving in that department.
It’s only when we have better facilities and equipment that our athletes will improve their performances at the biggest stage.
It does not sit well with me that after so many years competing at the Olympics, the Mountain Kingdom is still without a medal and it’s only when we have competitive associations that, as a country, we can perform better at international competitions.
I believe that there is need for a shift in the way our associations have been working over the years.
Some of the administrators are not in sports for the love of it but for the opportunities that come with it such as big per diems as well as traveling the world.
The infighting within the associations has also not helped our cause for growth and development as the administrators always hog the limelight for the wrong reasons.
For that, I think it’s time that the LSRC comes up with proper dispute resolution mechanisms because the conflicts hurt progress.
The new LSRC leadership will also be expected to convince the government to inject more resources and interest in sports especially towards creating better infrastructure that can help Lesotho catch up with the likes of Botswana, who have made massive improvements in recent years.
I was able to interview the new vice president in Mashale a few days before they headed to the elections last week and she admitted that the country has not put enough effort in developing the young talent that we have across the 10 districts of the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho.
Like they say, talk is cheap when it comes to politicians especially in the build-up to elections and I hope that Mashale will stay true to her words by ensuring that the new committee lives up the expectations of the sports fraternity.
