Africa-Press – Lesotho. The Lesotho Defence Force (LDF) commemorated Mass Sports Day together with Makoanyane Rangers and the Ultimate Radio in an effort to motivate young women and men who are undergoing
rehabilitation at the facility. The celebration was an initiative by the LDF Youth Development and Rehabilitation department, made possible by the youth radio station – the Ultimate Radio, Tobaka Consultancy,
Maluti Mountain Brewery (MMB), Vodacom Lesotho and Alliance Insurance. In an interview with Informative Newspaper LDF Youth Development and Rehabilitation Leader Captain
Bokang Melato said the activities are meant to get “Makoanyane Rangers” ready to reintegrate with the community. “Them being part of our Mass Sports Day celebration allows for communication with
other groups of people,” he said. Melato said they often engage with other parts of the community in an effort to re-connect them with the communities.
“We go to churches and community services so that they could work and interact with other people,” Melato highlighted.
He noted that Makoanyane Rangers are the fortunate group of people he had ever come across as they have been supported by multiple experts from different professions and institutions.
“We are already working with the Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports and
Recreation to create projects that will enable these young people to work independently when they get out there,” he said. MMB Head of Sales and Marketing Pusetso Twala told Informative Newspaper that they were
inspired by LDF’s initiative. “These young people are our siblings, brothers and sisters, we live with them in our villages as well as our homes, so their
development means that our communities will improve, our country will develop and most importantly, our operations will be secured. We have supported with
refreshments as it is a celebration day, gave away t-shirts and caps, our support to this initiative amounted to M10 000,” Twala explained. When speaking at the
celebration LDF Commander Lieutenant General Mojalefa Letsoela indicated that it has been a tough journey to get where they are because they were extremely
challenged by negativity coming from the communities. “There was a point where we thought it was unethical to keep these children, however we looked deep into
our intentions and reassured that our aim is real, honest and truthful, there is a huge difference to this far, a result of activities we have had, through
the help of stakeholders and community members,” Letsoela said. He stated that as they had nowhere to take resources that would be used by these young women and men who are now called Makoanyane Rangers, they received support from different companies when they called out for help.
