…as financial constraints force Lesotho to leave out mainstream athletics, swimming and other disciplines
By Leemisa Thuseho
LESOTHO will participate in only eight sporting codes at the 2026 African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Youth Games due to financial constraints.
The Games are scheduled for 4 to 13 December in Maputo, Mozambique, with Lesotho set to field a significantly smaller team than it would have preferred.
The notable omission is mainstream athletics — the sport that has traditionally been a major part of Lesotho’s teams at multisport international events.
Instead, the athletics contingent will be limited to visually impaired athletes, while Special Olympics athletes competing in events for athletes with intellectual disabilities have also been included.
The other sporting codes that have made the cut are boxing, netball, soccer, judo, table tennis, lawn tennis and taekwondo.
Disciplines that Lesotho will not participate in, despite being part of the Region 5 Games programme, include mainstream athletics, basketball, karate, swimming and volleyball.
Team Lesotho’s head of delegation, Refiloe Maphallela, confirmed to the Lesotho Times this week that financial constraints had forced the country to limit its participation to eight sporting codes.
He said he would have preferred to take all the sporting codes selected for the Maputo Games.
“We are only having eight sporting codes, and this is simply because we do not have enough budget to take a bigger team,” Maphallela told the Lesotho Times.
“We prioritise individual sports, but for other team sports like soccer, the Lesotho Football Association is taking responsibility for their teams, hence the inclusion of both the soccer female and male teams.”
Maphallella said he was particularly disappointed that mainstream athletics, volleyball, basketball and swimming had been left out.
He said the financial constraints had also affected preparations for the Games, although federations and coaches had already started preparing their respective teams.
“I cannot be happy while we are being forced by circumstances to leave behind other sporting codes, but we do not have a choice.
“Even our preparations are suffering, but we are hoping to have a camp during the upcoming Independence holidays. At the moment, federations and coaches are already hard at work preparing their teams,” he said.
The AUSC Region 5 Youth Games serve as an important platform for sports development in Southern Africa, bringing together athletes under the age of 20 from 10 member countries — Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Games provide an opportunity to identify and nurture emerging talent while promoting regional integration, friendship and cultural exchange among young athletes.
