Soshanguve's Mothiba embraces being second-oldest player at Basketball Africa

TimesLIVE

20-05-2025

His teammates call him 'Bra Neo' or 'Grootman', terms relating to him being a big brother and also as a sign of respect.
At the age of 43, Made By Ball (MBB) player Neo Mothiba is a testament to the saying that dreams delayed are not dreams denied.
The Soshanguve basketball star is still going strong and is not planning to stop playing any time soon — as long as his legs and body can still keep up with the pace of the game, he says.
His peers, with whom he started his career way back in the early 2000s, are either retired, coaching or focusing on their daily jobs. But Mothiba is still adding more stripes to his impressive hooping career.
MBB is going crazy before the game 🧨
Which one is your favorite ? #BAL5 pic.twitter.com/L4HaN8kIR6
— Basketball Africa League (@theBAL) May 18, 2025
He recently made his debut for Johannesburg's MBB in the continent's biggest competition, the Basketball Africa League in the Nile Conference, which is ongoing in Rwanda. That made him the second-oldest player in the current BAL edition after Radhouane Slimane, 44, of Tunisia's Union Sportive Monastir, commonly known as US Monastir.
'It is a testament to the amount of work you constantly put in, I don't know how he feels [Slimane],' Mothiba said. 'I would have loved to play earlier in the BAL, but the opportunity has come. To be playing at my age and be playing with slightly younger guys means that anyone can do it.'
With the kind of experience that comes with being around the South African basketball scene for almost three decades, it comes as no surprise that he is part of MBB's leadership group, which Mothiba embraces.
Round 2 of the Nile Conference was something else! Here are your Top 5 plays from yesterday 👊 #BAL5 pic.twitter.com/FlcCkJ7cqf
— Basketball Africa League (@theBAL) May 19, 2025
'The presence with the team is with my leadership style, some of the guys gravitate to me whenever they need advice, be it basketball or personal,' Mothiba said.
His basketball CV is unmatched in the country, and he also helps fight social ills in his community through his company, Beyond the Arc, which focuses on youth development through basketball.
Mothiba is a former SA national team captain and has made appearances in the 2005, 2007 and 2009 African Championships, as well as the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
At club level, he has had stints for Pretoria Heat, Egoli Magic, Jozi Nuggets, Soweto Panthers and Tshwane Suns. He had the luxury of watching his current employers grow through the ranks of SA Basketball.
MBB have progressed from a social club to a professional powerhouse. Now, together with MBB, which Mothiba joined in 2024, he is attempting to help his team qualify for the BAL playoffs in South Africa in June.
As for his teammates, he has pressured them to deliver in the Nile Conference in Kigali so that they return to SA to compete in the playoffs on home soil. The SA team need to win two or three of their remaining games and construct a superior points difference.
'We wouldn't be human if we didn't think about that,' Mothiba said.
'Of course, it's being talked about within the camp, but the coaches try to make sure we don't think ahead and that we focus on the task at hand — making it through the Nile Conference.'