MASERU — Mokhosi Mohapi’s dream to become the Lesotho Football Association (Lefa)’s substantive chief executive officer has been shattered after the association decided to kick him back down to his old job as facilities and administration manager.
Lefa has already started the hunt for a new CEO who is expected to be in office in two months’ time.
The development must have come as a massive blow to Mohapi, 37, who insiders say was desperate to nail the CEO’s post after acting in that capacity for two years.
Lefa decided to clip his wings after he apparently undertook an unsanctioned trip to Egypt for a Confederation of African Football meeting.
Insiders say the majority of Lefa’s national executive committee in fact wanted Mohapi fired from the association.
They however agreed — during Mohapi’s disciplinary hearing last Thursday — to remove him from the CEO’s lofty office and order him back to his original job.
Mohapi joined Lefa in 2006 as the administration manager until he was appointed the football mother body’s acting CEO in 2008 following the departure of incumbent Mafole Sematlane.
“Mr Mokhosi Mohapi shall revert back to his substantive position which is the facilities and administration manager with immediate effect,” Lefa president Salemane Phafane said in a press statement this week.
He will however remain in the CEO’s office for the next two months while Lefa scouts for a substantive incumbent.
“Mr Mohapi will for the next two months act in his current position whilst the national executive committee seeks direction regarding the position of the chief executive officer,” Phafane said.
However, Mohapi has not been barred from applying for the job.
“It will be up to him . . . he is not being denied the opportunity to apply for the job,” Lefa spokesman Baba Malephane told the Lesotho Times yesterday.
“I will not say we are putting him aside.”
He added that they expected to fill the position “within a month or so”.
Malephane said Mohapi had not been confirmed as the substantive CEO because Lefa was still looking for the right candidate.
“We were still looking for a person to fill the job,” he said. “A person can act for five years.”
“In every position it is about proving yourself,” he added. “It doesn’t mean we were grooming him for the job.”
Malephane was also quick to dispel the speculation that Mohapi had been spared the chop because of the role he is said to have played in securing Vodacom Lesotho as domestic football’s major sponsor.
“It is not true at all,” he said.
“That was his job on a daily basis to source sponsorship and to forge good relations with our sponsors. It is not true, totally.”
