ALTHOUGH she began her netball career as an ordinary player, today Limpho Mokhochane is one of Lesotho’s leading sports administrators whose influence spreads across the African continent.
sports
May 29, 2021
TEBOHO JAFETA
5 min read
Resolute sport administration guru, Limpho Mokhochane
Top sports administrator Limpho Mokhochane
When she first came into sports administration, she was already top-notch manager at her own communications company - ’Mantsopa Institute.
The experience she garnered from running the company made it easy for her to efficiently run the affairs of local sports.
She launched the Lesotho Sports Legacy Awards in 2016 as the President of the Lesotho Sports and Recreation Commission (LSRC). She holds several sports administration qualifications including the Association of National Olympic Confederation of Africa (ANOCA) Sport Administration Certificate obtained in 2010. She also holds the African Sport Administration Ventures certificate obtained in 2011.
When she left the LSRC in 2016, she focused her attention on the Region 5 activities.
Prior to vacating the post, Mokhochane had accompanied the then Minister of Sports and now Deputy Prime Minister Mathibeli Mokhothu to high level meetings in Pretoria to solicit funding after conducting a needs analysis for all 34 local sport federations and later presented the report to the national associations.
She was the Team Manager for Team Lesotho at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
In 2008, as President of the Lesotho Netball Association, she hosted the Confederation of Southern Africa Netball Association (COSANA Games).
She was appointed Team Lesotho Chef De Mission for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India but resigned from the position for accountability purposes because she was now President of LSRC.
Upon being elected to the LSRC, she became an executive committee member of the African Union Sport Council (AUSC) Region 5 in 2010.
She led Team Lesotho to the 2011 All Africa Games in Mozambique and to the Zone VI Youth Games the following year.
As LSRC boss, she hosted a successful national women’s dialogue on sport.
She is also a former member of the AUSC Region 5 Organising Committee.
She led Team Lesotho to the 2014 AUSC Region 5 Games in Zimbabwe not only as LSRC President and executive member of the Regional Committee, but also as a member of the Regional Organising Committee (ROC).
She held the portfolio of Chairperson for three sub-committees at the games - the Games Village, Accommodation and Catering Sub-committees.
Mokhochane also led Team Lesotho to the 2015 All Africa Games in Brazzaville, Congo.
She has among others facilitated workshops at regional level on change management and organisation of major sports events.
Born on May 12, 1974, Limpho Mokobocho now ’Matumo Mokhochane is the daughter of Teboho and ’Makopano Mokobocho of Mphaki, Quthing.
She did her primary education at Tšitsong Primary School in Mphaki before she moved to Paray Primary School in Thaba Tseka.
She finally completed her Standard 7 certificate in 1987 at Makoanyane Primary School in Maseru.
She proceeded to Lesotho High School and obtained a Junior Certificate (JC) in 1980 and a Cambridge Overseas School Certificate (COSC) in 1992.
She then enrolled with the National University of Lesotho (NUL) in 1993 for a Bachelor of Arts-Double major in Theatre Arts and Philosophy and graduated in 1998.
She obtained a Masters in Sport Management - Organising of major events, strategic planning and marketing at the University of Pelopenese, Greece in 2014.
In 2009, she founded her communications company called ’Mantsopa Communications now known as ’Mantsopa Institute. Mokhochane who started playing netball as a defender was also a proficient footballer. She briefly played as a striker but spent most of her high school and varsity days as goalkeeper.
Between 2004 and 2005, she was Team Manager for Raiders Netball Club before she was elected President of Lesotho Netball Association (LNA) a year later.
In 2007, she joined the Lesotho National Olympic Committee (LNOC) as a co-opted member.
She hosted a national tournament that produced the best district performers where some of the players in the schools’ national squad were finally selected from.
During her tenure as LNA boss, she facilitated the amendment of the association constitution and ensured that the constitution includes regional representation in the executive committee - Central, North and Southern regions.
She was in 2009 elected as President of the LSRC and served for two terms until 2016. To date, she is the only commission’s president who served for two terms.
Under her administration, the LSRC held trainings for Presidents, Secretary Generals and Treasurers of local federations.
She was part of the ROC team that organised the 2016 Angola Youth Games, the most challenging Games she has ever organized, even though each edition of the games has its unique challenges.
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As the new Chairperson of AUSC ROC Services Games sub-committee in 2016, she was appointed a member of an Intervention team-a team of three specialists who mentor a host country to effectively work on delivering successful games.
In 2018, she coordinated the Gaborone AUSC Region 5 Youth Games and handed over responsibilities on the ROC after that edition due to demanding professional demands.
She was elected as the LNOC Vice-Secretary General in 2008 and joined the LSRC as the LNOC Representative when she became LSRC President in 2009.
“Participating in sports taught me a lot about the politics. From being the President of LNA, I learned a lot from ’Makhotso Mokoatle, who was the then Vice President. I was also mentored by the former Vice President Finance in the LNOC, Sam Mphaka, and I must say for a few months because in 2009, I was elected as President of LSRC and immediately assumed a leadership role within the sport fraternity.
“I highly appreciate the amazing support I received from the then Minister of Gender and Youth, Sport and Recreation, Mrs ’Mathabiso Lepono,” she says.
She adds that both the long standing members of the LNOC and LSRC helped shape her leadership abilities role.
Her second-term as LSRC President was rocked with several challenges but through the support of her best team of commissioners, she managed to pull through.
“You know that when police officers barge into EXCO meeting that you are dealing with a crisis but, that passed with the change of government and we managed to recover quite well.
“We immediately did a turn-around strategy to implement some priority activities like the Lesotho Annual Sport Awards (LASA),” she notes.
She says while other countries committed to support Lesotho with equipment and technical assistance, some committed to offer scholarships and exchange programmes to Lesotho nationals.
She is married to Mohau Mokhochane and the couple is blessed with three boys including a set of twins.
Her other hobbies include other sports activities, writing, watching movies and reading.
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