Change at LEFA Is No Longer a Question It Is a Necessity

For years, we have been told to be patient with Likuena. That one day the results will come. That building takes time. Patience has been given, but the scoreboard does not lie. In the past twenty years the national team has lurched from one disappointment to another, with only the occasional spark. The pattern is too familiar to ignore. It is not just about players having an off day. It speaks to an administration that has lost direction…or is it something else?

Look at the COSAFA Cup. In 2023 Likuena stunned everyone by reaching the final. It felt like a turning point. Then came 2025, a four nil hammering by Angola followed by three nil against Namibia. You cannot sell hope one year and deliver humiliation the next. That is not growth. That is roulette.

World Cup qualifiers have been no kinder. Since the cycle began, Likuena has managed only two wins, two draws, and six losses. Just three goals scored, twenty conceded. A minus seventeen goal difference is not simply a statistic. It is an indictment. It says Lesotho is showing up not as a competitor but as a filler of fixtures. In March this year, the team lost two nil to South Africa and scraped a one all draw with Rwanda, on Friday hammered three nil by South Africa. That leaves Lesotho at the bottom of the group. If this does not alarm the leadership at LEFA, nothing will.

Then came the seven nil humiliation against Morocco in late 2024. One of the heaviest defeats in recent memory. Yes, there was a one nil win over the Central African Republic soon after. But does one result erase the embarrassment of conceding seven? No. It is part of the larger story of a team without a system, without a plan, and without leadership strong enough to demand accountability.

Off the pitch the picture is just as bleak. Setsoto Stadium, the symbol of national football pride, remains half renovated and half abandoned. Construction was halted because the money ran out. What does that say about priorities? A stadium in disrepair is not only a physical failure. It is a reflection of football administration that cannot manage its own house, let alone lift the game to continental standards.

Some will argue that Lesotho is small, that resources are thin, and expectations should be modest. That excuse has been used for decades. The truth is that size has never stopped other nations from punching above their weight. Iceland did it. Cape Verde is doing it. What they have is leadership, vision, and structure. These are the missing ingredients in Lesotho.

The players are not the problem. They run, they fight, they put their bodies on the line. But no amount of sweat can make up for poor planning. Winning culture cannot be built on disorganisation. That responsibility lies at the feet of LEFA’s leadership.

There is no polite way to put this. The game is stagnant. Results are humiliating. Infrastructure is crumbling. Leadership has failed to turn potential into progress. Unless there is real change, not token reshuffling, we will be sitting in the same place in another three years while the rest of Africa continues to move forward.

It is time to end the illusion that patience will solve everything. Football thrives on accountability. Accountability begins at the top. LEFA has had its chance. It has squandered it. Kapo kea pota?