Lesotho’s Failed Multi-Million Rand High-Altitude Sports Centre

The athlete’s village at the Rapokolana High Altitude Sports Training Centre is currently occupied by road workers.

• Built in 2005 to attract elite athletes, the M55-million Rapokolana centre has never been fully operational.
• Communities around Rapokolana say promised jobs and local economic benefits never materialised.
• Now South Africa plans to revive the abandoned centre as a regional high-altitude training hub.

High in the mountains, Lesotho’s most ambitious sports infrastructure project has never come into full operation. The Rapokolana High Altitude Sports Training Centre, built in 2005 at a cost of about M55-million (M1 equals R1), was intended to be a regional hub for elite athlete training. But decades later, it is vandalised, stripped of assets, and largely abandoned.

Conceived as an Olympic-standard facility, Rapokolana was designed to offer sustained high-altitude training conditions. Plans included athlete accommodation, a running track, a gym, indoor swimming facilities, soccer fields, tennis and netball courts, and support infrastructure for local and international teams.

But the centre has never been fully operational.

When GroundUp visited last week, we found a dilapidated facility, unused for years. Windows are broken, gym equipment is missing, and beneath a broken glass roof, rainwater collects in the swimming pool. The roof of the fitness hall has partially collapsed. Air-conditioning ducts from the gym are damaged. Sports courts and pitches are overgrown. A guard told us the pump for the small dam that supplies the centre was stolen. A guard also told us that beds, mattresses, washing machines, sofas, gym equipment, blankets and pillows have been removed or vandalised.

“At some point, roofing sheets were blown off some houses,” a guard said. “Villagers took things that were left exposed. When it was announced that police would search the village, some beds and mattresses were abandoned on a nearby hill.”

The abandoned swimming-pool is filled with stagnant rain water.

The wash facilities are in poor condition.

Hopes dashed

“We hoped our children would be employed, at least as unskilled labour, and be supervised by skilled people from outside,” Ha Rapokolana village chief Rapokolana Theko told GroundUp.

For residents of this remote area, the centre promised jobs, development and business for local farmers and traders.

“But many years down the line, the facility is not working. Our children have left and are now illegally working in South Africa,” said Theko.

Even during the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Youth Games in 2021, when the facility was cosmetically rehabilitated to host visiting athletes, these expectations were not realised.

“We hoped food would be sourced from our farmers and small businesses. But everything was brought from Maseru. Even the catering companies were unknown to us,” said Theko.

The main facility has been left in disrepair.

Misuse

GroundUp was told that officials are renting out their houses, located outside the fenced athletes’ village, which is fully occupied by the contractors. According to our sources, two security guards were made to share a room to free up space for tenants.

Rethabile Sello, a construction worker recovering at home from an accident, said he rents a room in a house allocated to an official for M150 a month. He said two other workers also rent rooms in the house.

Another source said five or six contractors stay in the kitchen of one house, two women share another room, and one worker has their own room. All pay M150 each. The source said about four people also rent the house allocated to the manager.

Livestock, including sheep, pigs and chickens, are also kept at the facility, fenced in using the identical material around the sports centre. Corrugated iron roofing sheets that had been blown off are being used to make kraals.

In 2023, two officials at the facility were removed after allegations of theft. Sources told GroundUp that the officials later returned and remain responsible for the centre.

Retšelisitsoe Ramohajane, the official in charge of the facility, said officials were previously suspended from duties over theft, but said they were found not guilty.

He denied that houses and rooms are being rented out. He said the people staying in the houses allocated to officials are relatives, who are also construction workers.

“My neighbour also stays with his brother-in-law. We do not rent houses here,” he said.

He said the sheep were his and he co-owned the other animals with another official.

Thabo Tsiki, the ministry’s sports director, said the ministry “does not permit the private use of state housing, including the keeping of livestock at the centre”.

He said, however, “there is authorised permission for the use of the facility by contractors … strictly for purposes related to the execution of approved construction works”.

Tsiki said officials were not suspended but investigations were conducted into incidents of vandalism and missing equipment to “establish the causes and identify any responsible parties”.

He did not disclose the outcomes of those investigations nor did he comment on our follow-up questions regarding reports of previous suspensions.

Livestock are kept on the grounds.

Missed opportunity

Realeboha Segoete, CEO of the Lesotho Sport and Recreation Commission (LSRC), said the facility has “solely been managed by the ministry”.

Segoete described Rapokolana as “a political pawn”, saying there has never been a clear, sustainable operational plan.

“There were no clear means or opportunities for the sports fraternity to access it,” he said.

He said athletes have lost out on “the advantage of training in a high-altitude environment, which is critical for excelling in international competitions”.

Athletes who qualify for high-performance training are forced to train abroad, often at a high cost.

Mark West, head of sports services at the Lesotho National Olympic Committee (LNOC), said “the facility has never been open to athletes or the LNOC”.

West said Lesotho has missed a major opportunity to attract international athletes.

“Many international athletes spend long periods training in Potchefstroom, South Africa, at about 1,300 metres above sea level,” he said. “Rapokolana sits at over 2,200 metres. This would not only improve athletics standards but also boost the economy through international visitors and spending.”

The netball courts are overgrown .

Plans to revive

Successive governments have announced plans to revive Rapokolana.

In 2023, Minister of Gender, Youth and Social Development , Pitso Lesaoana said the centre would be completed and used as a training camp for local and international teams. The government proposed M20–million for rehabilitation of Rapokolana and two other facilities in Peka and Semonkong in the previous financial year. But Rapokolana remains unchanged.

Last week in Maseru, South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture Peace Mabe said her government and Lesotho had agreed to fast-track cooperation on sports infrastructure.

“We have agreed towards the finalisation of the high-altitude centre called Rapokolana for the benefit of the sporting fraternity in both countries and across Africa,” Mabe said. She said the centre would operate as a satellite to the high-performance centre in Pretoria.

Segoete said that if the LSRC were entrusted with managing the facility, it could develop a sustainable operational model.

“We would create clear plans that benefit local athletes while attracting international teams,” he said.

“Controlled access, regular monitoring and continuous use would deter misuse,” Segoete said.

The ministry’s Tsiki said several initiatives and efforts are currently being undertaken to identify sustainable solutions to ensure that the centre becomes fully functional. “These include ongoing assessments and consideration of viable management and operational approaches.”

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