Africa-Press – Lesotho. Lesotho is not part of the ongoing 2019 African Volleyball Confederation (CAVB) All Africa games- Zone 6 Men and Women qualifiers held in Maputo, Mozambique from May 31 to
June 8. Lesotho Volleyball Association (LVA) Public Relations Officer (PRO) Buller Phalatsi confirmed to Informative Sport that indeed Lesotho is not part of the
competition. Phalatsi revealed that the reason behind Lesotho’s failure to fulfil the fixture is lack of funds. Signs leading to the failure were seen a few weeks back when the national team
training sessions were called off due to unavailability of funds to assemble the teams for preparations of the ongoing tournament. Phalatsi had earlier explained the teams’ training sessions were suspended due to the
unavailability of funds from Lesotho Sport and Recreation Commission (LSRC) pending the allocation of funds by the Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sport and
Recreation. CAVB Zone 6 comprises of South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, eSwatini, Zambia and Mozambique however only Mozambique, Botswana, and eSwatini fulfilled the fixture.
The winner of both men and women genders will book a ticket to the All Africa Games finals in Rabat, Morocco from the 19th to 31st June , 2019. Lesotho has never qualified for the All Africa Games tournament.
One of the teams’ managers Lehlohonolo Taela told Informative Sportthat training sessions were cancelled just before they could select their final squads.
“We were preparing to stage our final camp,” he said. With players already prepared psychologically that they are
going for such a tournament, he said the blows and setbacks demoralize the players as well as the technical team. In an exclusive interview LSRC Acting Chief Executive Officer
Mofihli Makoele revealed that not every national federation/association depends on LSRC for assistance to fulfill their international trips. He said some get assistance from their regional or international
mother bodies while others make their own way of sourcing funds for the trips. The volleyball, he continued, has been depending on LSRC even though the commission warned them of the consequences like what is currently
happening with the commission enduring financial constraints. Makoele mentioned LVA as their affiliates, were made aware of the financial status of the commission along
with other national federations and associations. He confirmed that LSRC is still awaiting its quarterly subvention from Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports and Recreation.
In a letter written to the federations and associations, LSRC revealed that it is facing financial problems that are beyond their control. “We are in the first quarter for the financial year ending 31st March 2020.
By now we were supposed to have received our quarterly subvention allocation which is normally paid in the second week of the quarter but the warrants are
not yet allocated to parastatals. On the basis of the above statement, the commission is unable to financially assist the sporting associations’ programmes until are formally advised of their
annual allocation for the financial year,” LSRC noted. The letter further indicated that it is only upon receiving the funds that the commission will start assisting association programmes.
