Lesotho Football Association Secretary General Mokhosi Mohapi has issued a stern warning to the South African Football Association regarding Teboho Mokoena ahead of their 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers clash.
Bafana Bafana head coach Hugo Broos and his technical team fielded an ineligible Mokoena during a qualifying match against Lesotho earlier this year.
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However, LeFA did not immediately lodge a protest with FIFA, which may have led the world football governing body to refuse to entertain the matter.
Nonetheless, ahead of the upcoming clash between SA and Likuena, Mohapi has cautioned SAFA, stating that if Mokoena is fielded again, Lesotho will file an official complaint with FIFA.
The Lesotho official argues that Mokoena has yet to serve a one-match suspension against Lesotho, after he accumulated two yellow cards in matches against Benin and Zimbabwe.
Bafana currently boss the Group C with 13 points, five ahead of both Rwanda and Benin, who are tied on eight points. Nigeria sit fourth with seven points.
SA will face Lesotho, who are fifth in the group with six points, while Zimbabwe sit at the bottom of the table with four points, with four games remaining.
"Yes, if South Africa dare play Teboho Mokoena, we will launch a protest," Mohapi said on SoccerBeat YouTube Channel.
"I will tell you why, we will launch a protest so that it goes back to the other match because he has never served the suspension that he was meant to have served.
"The suspension was supposed to be automatic during the match against Lesotho, so he did not. So now we are going to say for the match against Benin he was not serving his ban. He was not picked for that match," he explained.
"For all intents and purposes, so far as the regulation is concerned, SAFA did not pick him for that match because that was not a match at which he had to serve the suspension.
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"So I'm just going to wait until, say, three minutes into the game, then we will launch the protest. The regulation is clear. It says an automatic suspension for fielding an ineligible player. So he was ineligible to play the Lesotho match. Not the Benin one," added the secretary.
"The Benin one, he was simply dropped for fear of reprisal. So this one, we will launch immediately, immediately, we see him on the list. You know what? He needs not even walk onto the pitch. As long as he's on the team list, we are launching the protest.
