Boxing coach shot and killed

NTHAKO MAJORO

MASERU – Lesotho Boxing Association (LeBA) mourns the death of one of its coaches, Chaka Moekoa, who was shot dead this week. LeBA Public Relations Officer, Rethabile Ntiea, said his association received the devastating news on Tuesday – the night of the unfortunate incident.

Ntiea said according to the deceased’s wife, Mekoa had just arrived home from a gym when he received a telephone call, “and he immediately got into his car and rushed off without saying where he was going.”

“His wife said afterwards they heard the sound of a vehicle outside and turned down their television volume to ascertain if it was him,” said Ntiea in an interview with Public Eye on Wednesday

“However, she said he never got into the house and immediately they heard constant gunshots outside.” Ntiea said the deceased’s family, who were about to go out before the gunshots, then ran back into the house. They got out after the gunshots stopped and saw three men running away from the scene.

They came close to the car and tried to call him (the deceased) but he could not answer and one of them rushed back into the house to fetch a torch. That’s when they realized his body lying down near his car, bleeding, he narrated. Ntiea said the family then rushed him to hospital where he was confirmed dead.

He said the reason for the killing was not yet known, and that the incident was reported to the police. Moekoa was a mentor of Tšosane Boxing Club. He also used to be appointed to lead national teams during international competitions.

He led the Under-20 boxing team to the 2014 African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Under-20 Youth Games held in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.  Moekoa produced star boxers over the years such as the late Mosolesa ‘Fire’ Tsie, Sephula Letuka and Sebusiso Keketsi, amongst others.

Keketsi is one of the boxers he mentored when he started his career in boxing at Tšosane Boxing Club. He is now the highest qualified boxing coach in the country. Ntiea further said: “Sephula Letuka, Mosolesa Tsie and Moses Kopo are among the boxers he produced.”

Letuka won a Bronze medal from the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, while Kopo won a Silver medal in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. When Kopo bagged a Silver medal in Melbourne, Moekoa was one of his coaches.

Tsie and Keketsi were also the first local boxers to qualify for the Olympic Games, and that’s shows how good Moekoa was as a boxing coach. Ntiea, therefore, labeled Moekoa’a death a great loss for the LeBA and the general boxing fraternity in the country.