Mojaki steps away from BFA … Trading touchlines for public service

After seven years as the first man to hold the BFA’s football-operations brief, Monnakgotla ‘Pelembe’ Mojaki departs for a District Commissioner’s post in Tlokweng – leaving behind a tenure of continental milestones and lingering controversy.

For seven years, Monnakgotla ‘Pelembe’ Mojaki occupied a seat few in Botswana football had ever held, and this week he vacated it. The Botswana Football Association’s general manager of football operations is set to leave the organization on Tuesday, Sept. 30, closing a chapter that placed him at the beating heart of the country’s national-team project during one of its more eventful stretches.

Mojaki was the inaugural occupant of the role, a position carved out of nothing in 2019 under the administration of Maclean Letshwiti. The brief was broad and, in its way, pioneering: to shepherd the management and day-to-day operations of Botswana’s national teams. No one had done the job before him, which meant that whatever shape the office eventually took, it was largely his to define.

He now appears bound for a different arena altogether. According to people familiar with developments at Lekidi Football Centre, Mojaki is poised to enter the public service as District Commissioner in Tlokweng – a departure that comes with roughly a year still left on his BFA contract. He is understood to have served a one-month notice period before walking away.

A tenure measured in milestones

If timing is everything in football, Mojaki’s was fortuitous. His years in the role coincided with a rare run of continental breakthroughs for Botswana’s national sides.

Under his watch, the senior women’s team, the Mares, qualified for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in consecutive editions, appearing at both the 2022 and 2024 tournaments. The 2024 campaign proved the more memorable of the two: the Mares advanced to the quarter-finals, a result that stands among the most significant achievements in the history of Botswana women’s football.

The senior men’s team, the Zebras, likewise found their way back to the Africa Cup of Nations finals during his tenure, booking only their second appearance at the continental showpiece since their maiden qualification in 2012.

Mojaki’s work kept him close to the action during both campaigns, operating alongside coaches, technical staff and other stakeholders in the administration of the squads. His final assignment carried a certain symmetry: this week he travelled with the Zebras for their fixtures against North African opposition, watching Botswana hold both Libya and Tunisia to 2-2 draws. Two points from two matches made for a steady start to the campaign – and a fitting send-off for one of the association’s longest-serving football administrators.

A shadow that lingered

His time at the BFA was not without turbulence. In 2023, the association suspended Mojaki after the emergence of a leaked audio recording that allegedly captured a discussion about bribing a referee to influence the outcome of a match. The recording, roughly four minutes long, allegedly featured voices suspected to belong to Mojaki and the referee Joshua Bondo. A third party, identified only as Zakhem, was also mentioned.

The BFA announced an investigation and suspended Mojaki while the process ran its course. The episode became one of the more contentious of his tenure, though the leaked recording and the allegations attached to it should be distinguished from any established finding of wrongdoing. Mojaki ultimately retained his position and continued working within the association’s structures.

A new chapter

Now, after seven years, he is preparing to leave the sport and take up a new responsibility in public administration. His exit draws the curtain on a period in which he was closely bound to the stewardship of Botswana’s national teams, including some of the country’s most memorable recent international campaigns.

For the BFA, his departure opens a vacancy in an office that existed only because he was appointed to it in 2019. As he swaps the touchline for the civil service, Mojaki leaves behind a tenure defined by national-team milestones, institutional responsibility and, unavoidably, controversy.

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