Qhobosheane: Gone too soon

NTHAKO MAJORO

MASERU – When one is young and hungry for success, they sometimes lose awareness of their own mortality. Such could be the case with Bokang Qhobosheane, who was shot dead by his stepfather, Rethabile Tsietsi, on February 3. Qhobosheane, 18, was laid to rest at Ha Leqele Cemetery last Saturday.

He may have been a young life cut short, but Qhobosheane was one of the founders of a newly and first ever wrestling club in the country, Game Changers, that was formed late last year. Game Changers captain, Teleki Mafa, said in Qhobosheane his club lost an important member.

Mafa said Qhobosheane was friendly and influential to everyone at the club, and that he also knew how to motivate his teammates. “We have really lost an important athlete who was influential and who knew how to motivate his teammates,” said Mafa in an interview with Public Eye on Monday this week.

“When we were not in the game Qhobosheane knew how to bring us back into the game.” Qhobosheane was also a body-builder and fitness model, both of which he started long before he was taken by wrestling and continued to practice until his last day on earth.

“Before we started a wrestling club, we were fitness models and body builders. We were also active in photo shooting, and he was best at photo shooting.” Mafa said Qhobosheane used to contribute his last money for photo shooting, adding the deceased was also very passionate about body building.

Qhobosheane was also a smart guy who liked to operate in hygienic environment. “He was also a smart person who was very concerned about sanitary environment. Therefore, he always made sure that we trained in a sanitary environment, and now he left us after we had just started a wrestling club,” Mafa said.

Wrestling Association of Lesotho’ Secretary General, Fetang Selialia, said Qhobosheane was an athlete with great potential. Selialia, who is also the president of the Federation of Lesotho Rugby (FLR) and Public Relations Officer for the Lesotho National Olympic Committee (LNOC), further said Qhobosheane was willing to be successful in life.

“He was one of the most positive athletes, so much that he believed he was going to be the first Lesotho athlete to win a medal from the Olympic Games,” said Selialia. Qhobosheane, Selialia said, was also a self-disciplined athlete. “He was a self-disciplined athlete. Even his body would tell you how disciplined he was.

“I mean for an 18-year-old boy to have such a body that means there was a consistency in what he was doing.” Selialia also said Qhobosheane was also very selective when it came to food, hence why he managed to keep his in good shape. “His passing away is indeed a big loss to some of us whose dream is to see local wrestling doing well at an international level.”

Selialia, however, said Qhobosheane’s teammates have promised to honour him by always putting up a fine performance in competitions they would be taking part at in future. All Game Changers’ athletes are yet to make their debuts in wrestling competitions.

The club and its federation are currently waiting for a technical assistance and support for them to be able to start competing at an international level. Qhobosheane was a Form E student at St James High School. He died after he was shot three times by his stepfather, Tsietsi (40), who is a member of the National Security Services.