sports

Feb. 13, 2021

TEBOHO JAFETA

6 min read

The crafty chess master, Chief Joang Molapo

The crafty chess master, Chief Joang Molapo

Chief Joang Molapo doing what he does best

Metro Audio Articles

Catch our weekly audio news daily only on Metro Radio Podcast News.

listen now

AT age 56, he is one of the most decorated chess players in the country with a Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE) Candidate Master (CM) title. He is ranked position 97 587 worldwide with a standard rating of 1 607 and is position seven under active players nationally and position 10 under all Lesotho chess players.

On the African continent under active players, Chief Joang Molapo is ranked position 3 359 and appears on position 6 331 under all ranked chess players in Africa.

He is also ranked position 202 392 under all ranked chess players globally. 

In 1987, he reached his highest FIDE rating at 2 080. He moved Loughborough University Chess team in England from the third Division to the First Division in both the University and the National Leagues.

During his first competition in Maseru in 1979, he scored four points out of six at the Oude Meester Chess Championship.

After taking a break, Chief Molapo returned to chess spotlight in 2013 September at a tournament that was held at Lerotholi Polytechnic (Fokothi) where he won the tournament but he surrendered the award to the runner-up. 

Since 2013, chess in Lesotho changed for the better and people started reading chess theory, of-course most were using books he had recommended.

At the time, Chief Molapo was also the Minister of Home Affairs and a lot of players were keen to defeat him.

His appearance in local chess tournaments drew many into the sport while also driving them to become better players.

In 2016, he was the fifth highest rated player in the country and that qualified him to be part of the team which represented Lesotho at the 2016 Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan.

After an outstanding performance, he was awarded the title of Candidate Master (CM) by FIDE, making him the first Mosotho chess player to hold that title.

He was the runner-up at the 2017 National Chess Championship.

Chief Molapo is also a civil engineer of note with a couple of awards under his belt in that industry too.

As a chess player, he was awarded the FIDE Candidate Master title. He is also a Patron of the Chess Federation of Lesotho (CFL).    

In the engineering department, he won the South African Institute of Consulting Engineers ALGOA Region, Design Award in 1998 for the Kwanobohle Multi-Purpose Sports Centre and another one for the upgrading of the Driftsands Treatment Works in Port Elizabeth in 1999.

While playing in South Africa, Chief Molapo had the privilege of being mentored by Arthur Kobese, one of South Africa’s best chess coaches who is the current president of the South African Chess Federation. Kobese is also the father International Master (IM) Watu Kobese.  

Born on November 9, 1965, Chief Joang Molapo is the son of the late Chief Mooki and ’Majoang Molapo of Ha ’Mathata, Maputsoe in the Leribe district.

He is the second born in a family of five children, two boys and three girls.

He attended various primary schools in different countries including St Joseph Elementary New York, in the United States of America (USA) from 1971 to 1972. From 1972 to 1974, he went to Roosevelt Elementary School, New Rochelle in New York, and British School Tehran in Iran from 1975 to 1976.

From 1976 to 1977, Chief Molapo attended Albert Leonard Jr. High School in New York before he completed his high school education at Machabeng in Maseru, Lesotho.  

“My love for chess arose while I was in Iran, when an employee of the South Africa Foreign Affairs Ministry, Rusty Evans gave me my first chess board without teaching me how to play. So upon my arrival at Machabeng in 1977, my then schoolmate the late Tšepo Kotsokoane taught me how to play,” he recalls.

Apart from being a great chess player, Chief Molapo was also handy in lawn tennis, football and table tennis.

He played for the now defunct premier league giants Arsenal FC as a defensive midfielder in the 1980s, alongside Motlatsi Maseela among others. He also represented Lesotho internationally in lawn tennis.

Between 1983 and 1985 he studied at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) for a BSc General programme majoring with Mathematics and Physics.

He later enrolled at the Loughborough University in Leicestershire, England where he graduated with Bachelor of Science (BSc) Honors in Civil Engineering in 1989 before obtaining Masters of Business Administration (MBA) in 1998 at the University of Port Elizabeth in South Africa. 

At one and half years, his parents relocated to the US where his late father worked as the First Secretary at the Lesotho Consulate to Washington DC, with Ambassador Albert Mohale. He grew up in New York, New Rochelle, Iran and England.

At the 1979 Oude Meester Chess Championship in Maseru he competed against the likes of the late hotel mogul Thabiso Tlalai and his former schoolmate Kotsokoane.

Chief Molapo scored four points out of six. The same year, his team at Machabeng challenged the NUL team and defeated the more senior squad which was preparing for that year’s Inter-varsity games.  

After he finished studying, Chief Molapo worked as Design Engineer in various companies including the Croswell Shepherd and Partners in Johannesburg from January 1990 to July 1991, the Highlands Water Venture Katse Dam from August 1991 until June 1994, the Lesotho Consulting Engineers in Maseru, from August 1994 to June 1995 and Matsoku Dam Partnership in July 1995 until December 1996.

He served as a Director in various companies between January 1997 and June 2012.

Enjoy our daily newsletter from today

Access exclusive newsletters, along with previews of new media releases.

From January 1997 to December 1998, he worked at Ninham Shand Consulting Engineers in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Then he joined Jefferies and Green Consulting Engineers also in Port Elizabeth from January to December 1999.

Between January 2000 and October 2002 he worked for Lukhozi Consulting Engineer in East London, South Africa.

Then he joined the Civil and Rural Consulting Engineers in East London, from November 2002 to October 2003.

Between November 2003 and January 2006 he worked for Karabo Consulting Engineers in Pretoria.

From November 2006 to October 2007, he was at Moxhomo Construction in Johannesburg before he returned to Croswell Engineers where remained until December 2010.

From January 2011 to June 2012 he worked for Molprocon in Bloemfontein.

Later that year, Chief Molapo joined politics and was in July appointed as the Minister of Home Affairs where he served until March 2015.

Following the 2015 elections, he became an opposition Member of Parliament by virtue of Proportional Representation (PR) representing his political party the Basotho National Party (BNP) until February 2017 when the country prepared for another snap election.

While in the Ninth Parliament, he served in various Portfolio Committees such as Business, Economic Cluster and Natural Resources. 

Chief Joang Molapo is also the former Minister of Tourism, Environment and Culture. He resumed the position following Cabinet reshuffle of February 2019.

He is still an MP for BNP. He is also the gazette Area Chief of Mohopong and Bokong in the Leribe district. 

He has also served as the Minister of Public Service and the Minister of Communications, Science and Technology.

Prior to the 43rd 2018 World Chess Olympiad which was held in Georgia’s Black Sea coastal city of Batumi, Chief Molapo mentored Team Lesotho men squad that comprised Theko Khanyapa, Tokelo Klaas, Sechaba Khalema, Liteboho Mohatlane and Ramokotjo Lekau.

Klaas was awarded the CM title at the tournament.

Chief Molapo is also an avid commercial farmer and businessman who owns the Ramoetsane Agricultural Productions together with the Litjotjela Mall in Leribe.

He is married to Kutloelo Molapo and the couple is blessed with four children, three daughters and a son.

Share the story

METRO WEATHER FORECAST