Moorosi Tsiane
LIOLI has in recent weeks been making headlines for all the wrong reasons with the interim committee trading barbs with its patrons in public.
The interim committee last week accused the team’s chief patron Morena Sempe Masupha and former president Lebohang Thotanyana (patron) of sabotaging them by advising the main sponsor, Alliance Insurance, to stop giving the club their monthly money.
The committee led by Lephethasang Hlajoane Lesaoana felt that Thotanyana, who has made his intentions clear that he wants to return to Lioli’s hot seat, is out to tarnish its image.
Masupha has previously written letters to Alliance ordering them to stop remitting funds to the club. He also wrote to their tenants, Ramatheola Supermarket, and advised them to stop paying rentals. The unavailability of money deterred the team from paying its players for July 2020.
I think this has shown the lengths to which people can go to have power. None of the warring parties has cared realise that above anything else, a soccer team is built by players. Leadership squabbles have cost the players more than anyone else.
Until Monday, the players were still to be paid and I honestly understand the frustration they are in, especially during the prevailing Covid-19 pandemic when most people are strained for cash.
The prevailing fights come after the members of the committee that was elected in August last year resigned one after the other leaving Lesaoana and other co-opted members to run the team.
When Thotanyana’s committee decided to step down last year, there was only one year left on their three-year tenure and the agreement was that the supporters would elect a new committee which will hold fort for the remainder of the term up to the elections that were expected to be held this month.
But things went south with the president Mokheseng Tekateka resigning few months after his election.
Tekateka was followed by two vice presidents; Lehlohonolo Thotanyana and Tšeliso Mou left just a few months after their appointment while Itumeleng Mpokathe, who took over from Tekateka, followed suit a few weeks later.
Early this year, I said the series of resignations were adequate proof that things were upside down at the club. I had hoped the team would have resolved these issues. But it seems no one cares.
I fail to understand why the Lesaoana-led group wants to “cling onto power” as alleged by its “detractors”. It appears as if they are not as determined to hold elections as they are to remain in power. I think the leaders must find each other for the sake of the club.
