The life of legendary football administrator Moss Selolo will live on after his death as his legacy of community work and contribution to football will be remembered by all and immortalised forever.
Born on 17 July 1946, Moses Mmone Selolo popularly known as Bra Moss in Alexandra Northrand Local Football Association (ANLFA) circles and those of the Lombardy West and Bramley View Residents Association for his community work, Selolo, who hailed from Razenkrantz, Ga Matlala in Limpopo, died at his Bramley View home in the early morning of 10 January after a very brief illness.
His death came only two days after he welcomed a delegation of the Premier Soccer League (PSL) which had come to the township to inspect the iconic Alexandra Stadium with a view to make recommendations on renovations required to make the stadium compliant to host the PSL reserve league’s MultiChoice Diski Challenge games.
ALSO READ: Alexandra pays tribute to gentle giant, Moses Selolo who brought people together through sport
Although a retired president who was bestowed with the honorary life presidency of the ANLFA, Bra Moss never regarded himself as retirement material as he soldiered on with his football and community work right until he took his last breath.
Bra Moss was the fifth child of the late Jacob and Georgina Selolo and started his schooling at Razenkrantz Primary School after which the family moved to Alexandra in Johannesburg where he completed his higher education at Alexandra High School. He carefully juggled his school work with his love for the beautiful game as one of the outstandingly talented players of the then City Wanderers FC.
Bra Moss did not only juggle his schoolwork with football but did the same with his career, juggling serious work commitments from 1969 as a clerk at NLS Construction and later at Murray & Roberts as a credit controller, and also property management right up to his retirement in 2001.
His administrative role in football started early in the 70s as the deputy secretary of the then Alexandra Football Association (AFA) under the presidential tenure of the late astute administrator Dr Leepile Taunyane and later Simon ‘Mbazo’ Selepe. Selolo then took over as secretary-general of AFA after Selepe was elected president.
Upon assuming the secretary-general position, Selolo introduced his unique brand of collective leadership and management approach which earned him enormous respect among his peers. That led him to serve on numerous sub-committee structures of football at all levels, including the Southern Transvaal District in the 80s.
In 1987, Bra Moss was elected president of AFA, a position he graciously held and served with both aplomb and diligence until 2014 when he relinquished it for younger blood and handed over the baton to the incumbent chairperson Maisha Molepo. He took over the reigns at ANLFA, the oldest football body in the country having been established in 1935 and took it to another level.
Selolo was not lost to football when he relinquished the ANLFA presidency as he continued to serve football on the South African Football Association’s (Safa) Johannesburg Regional executive committee member for five years, followed by stints in the legal department of Safa Gauteng.
Ntate Selolo, as others tended to refer to him, was instrumental in the formation and sustenance of the Alex Referees Development Project under the tutelage of Selepe and Giya Hleza, which has produced many world-class match officials. The Totalsports Alex Safe Hub at Ground Number One was one of his many projects.
At the time of his death, he was the technical advisor to ANLFA and a revered member of Safa Gauteng Appeals Board. He is survived by his wife, Agnes, sons Frith and Hadley, grandchildren Lethabo and Otlile, four brothers and two sisters.
