Mohapi eyes top post at CAF

MASERU – Lesotho Football Association (LEFA) Secretary General Mokhosi Mohapi is aiming for a seat in the CAF Executive Committee.

Mohapi is running for a vacant member position and he is up against two candidates – Walter Nyamilandu from Malawi and Mohamad Sobha from Mauritius.

In a wide-ranging interview with thepost at Bambatha tsita Sports Arena on Tuesday, Mohapi opened up on his vision for football and what he will bring to the table if elected.

He said his experience and knowledge conducting Lesotho football will come in handy.

The full interview is available on thepost’s digital pages, this is just part of it.

The proposition for Mohapi to run was made by other CAF secretary generals (SGs) after they saw that he was one of the longest serving SGs on the continent.

Mohapi said it was a tough decision to make but he is not the one to shy away from challenges.

He said that he approached LEFA’s president, Advocate Salemane Phafane, who gave him his blessings to run. The CAF Executive is normally made up of presidents of associations and Mohapi said the football governing body FIFA wants inclusivity in football.

The notion that Mohapi cannot stand for a place in the CAF Executive because he is not a president quickly loses its standing seeing as the current president of CAF, Patrice Motsepe of South Africa, has never led a federation before.

“President of CAF, is he a president of MA (member association)? For us as MA SGs, we carry out MAs resolutions, we also carry out directives from CAF, our regions as well as FIFA. (With) the experience we are getting from delivering those directives, we feel that it is time these experiences are put at the highest level of CAF, so that the ideas that come from the SGs, the perspectives are well represented at CAF especially at a decision-making level that is the executive committee,” he said.

“We felt that, given that everybody can become a member of CAF executive committee provided they fulfil their eligibility and integrity criteria which I am happy to say I have fulfilled it. My running for CAF executive committee does satisfy FIFA, CAF and probably COSAFA, a motion of inclusivity and diversity in the sense that even the voice of those who work in football on the ground are represented,” he continued.

It’s not often that Basotho raise their hands for big positions like this, not just in sport but even in politics. Very few Basotho have put themselves forward, a notion Mohapi agreed with and he wants to contribute the perspective of other SGs across the 54 countries as they are the actual football soldiers.

“So for me there is nothing to be feared. I mean any president who sees an SG shouldn’t be afraid, it presents CAF with an opportunity to get a different perspective other than a single perspective of chairing a meeting. Most of the presidents of the MAs chair meetings and I am saying this will be due respect,” he said.

“They may have a hallow effect as a result of them always chairing meetings, but I am saying I want to be in there to bring to the audience the CAF executive how the MA SGs see the implementation of resolution and this will also help the CAF SG because he will know how the resolutions will be delivered,” he continued.

Questions have been asked about whether the campaigning will not affect Mohapi’s daily work at LEFA which is to run football and he insisted that will not be the case.

“There is what we call work life balance, in that time that I have slotted work which is from 8am to 9pm, I can apportion to serve beyond just football. I am very grateful for the opportunities that LEFA has given me and I also want to give back to the association because we don’t compete where major decisions are taken” he said.

“We will always suffer because there is no voice there is no real time information dissemination as it happens, we get it through a memo, a letter, the thinking behind that resolution we often don’t know about it. Because we don’t know about them we are left in the dark. That is why we are not doing very well because we don’t know the thinking of some of the things, we are forced every time to respond when we don’t really quite understand,” he said.

He continued that they want to share a different perspective of the SGs, and during his campaign he will feed the market on how Lesotho sees itself contributing to African football.

“We just want to shift paradigms and see what will become of the shifted paradigm. We have circulated our manifesto and we are going to feed the market about how Lesotho sees itself contributing to the pan-African football environment,” he said.

“They should be open to seeing the SGs coming to the party and sharing their experiences and presenting different perspectives because they know they have been running football and continue to do so,” he said.

Tlalane Phahla