Leemisa Thuseho
PRIME Minister Moeketsi Majoro on Tuesday imposed a ban on all sporting activities except outdoor non-contact sports in order to arrest the spike in Covid-19 cases.
The ban comes after sports activities had been gradually returning after the Covid-19 lockdown imposed by former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane last March.
However, towards the end of 2020, the restrictions were reduced and different sports started returning to action. And just when most were now expecting the full return of sports, the recent increase in Covid-19 cases has led to yet another lockdown.
Just before Majoro’s Tuesday evening address, the Lesotho Football Association (LeFA) had earlier that day suspended all football games for two weeks on account of the rise in Covid-19 infections.
“The LeFA national executive committee (NEC), in consultation with and on the recommendations of the Premier League Management Committee (PLMC), A Division Management Committee (ADMACO), B Division and C and the Women’s Super League (WSL), has resolved to suspend all league games and group training sessions with effect from 5 January 2021, for an initial period of two weeks,” LeFA said in a statement.
LeFA said the duration of the suspension will be reviewed from time to time by the NEC in consultation with the National Covid-19 Secretariat (NACOSEC) and all concerned parties.
“This emergency decision has been necessitated by the sweeping resurgence of Covid-19 infections in Lesotho and the world over claiming many lives daily,” LeFA said.
The Vodacom Premier League was supposed to have resumed yesterday with Lifofane hosting Lioli in either Maputsoe or Butha-Buthe.
The league is being suspended with defending champions, Bantu sitting atop the log table with 12 points after winning all their four opening games. Matlama are second with same number of points as Bantu, trailing only on goal difference.
On the other hand, the 2020/21 season of the WSL was meant to have started this weekend having last been in action last March.
The A Division was also expected to start this weekend.
This is the second time that LeFA has been forced to suspend all leagues due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In March last year, LeFA also suspended all soccer leagues and ended up ending some league seasons prematurely.
