Makabelo Priscilla Mosothoane (born 1952) is a

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked country, landlocked as an Enclave and exclave, enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the Thabana Ntlenyana, highest mountains in Sou ...

politician who served as the country's Minister for Education and Training from 2012 to 2015, in the government of Tom Thabane. She worked as a nurse and schoolteacher prior to entering politics, and was also president of the local branch of the Red Cross Society.

Early life

Mosothoane was born in Kanye, Botswana, into a Tswana family. Her native language was Setswana. Mosothoane attended secondary school in Gaborone (Botswana's capital), and subsequently completed a diploma in nursing, interning at Gaborone's Princess Marina Hospital. She moved to Lesotho to study at the National University of Lesotho, graduating in 1982 with a

Bachelor of Arts in Education A Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) is an undergraduate professional degree which prepares students for work as a teacher in schools. In some countries such as Tanzania and Kenya, additional tasks like field work and research are required in order for ...

. Remaining in Lesotho after graduation, Mosothoane initially worked as a high school teacher, teaching at schools in Linare and Hlotse. In 1987, she began working at the

English-medium An English-medium education system is one that uses English as the primary medium of instruction—particularly where English is not the mother tongue of the students. Initially this is associated with the expansion of English from its homeland ...

school for the Leribe District, where she became principal in 1991. Outside of her work in education, Mosothoane was elected president of the Lesotho Red Cross Society in 2003.

Politics

At the

2012 Lesotho general election General elections were held in Lesotho on 26 May 2012. The incumbent Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili's newly formed Democratic Congress won a majority of single-member seats. He also won his seat by the second-largest margin of victory. However ...

, Mosothoane was elected to the National Assembly as a

Lesotho Congress for Democracy The Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) is a political party in Lesotho. In 1997, Prime Minister Ntsu Mokhehle left the Basutoland Congress Party to form with his faction the new Lesotho Congress for Democracy. The new party won the 1998 ele ...

(LCD) candidate, winning the Hlotse constituency. She defeated Lineo Molise, a sitting deputy minister. After the election, Mosothoane was made Minister for Education and Training in the coalition government formed by Prime Minister Tom Thabane of the

All Basotho Convention The All Basotho Convention (ABC; ) is a political party in Lesotho. The party was formed in October 2006 and founded by Tom Thabane, a former minister in the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) led by the government of Prime Minister Pakalitha ...

(ABC). During her period as education minister, she introduced a new nationwide curriculum for primary schools, and also oversaw the localisation of secondary school examinations, which had previously been administered by Cambridge International Examinations (a British organisation). In October 2014, Mosothoane was also appointed Minister for Communications, Science and Technology in an acting capacity, following the dismissal of

Selibe Mochoboroane Selibe Mochoboroane (e mots'o moratuoa) is a Mosotho politician and the current Minister of Health due October 2022 in the government led by Sam Matekane. He is the youngest party leader of the newly founded Movement for Economic Change (MEC), wh ...

from the ministry. Mochoboroane claimed his removal was unlawful, and refused to vacate his office or give up his other ministerial resources. Mosothoane was replaced as acting minister by Joang Molapo in February 2015, at which point Mochoboroane was still disputing the legitimacy of his dismissal. Despite being a sitting minister, she was defeated in an LCD

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

prior to the 2015 general election, and consequently did not retain her seat in the National Assembly.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mosothoane, Makabelo 1952 births Living people Botswana emigrants to Lesotho Botswana nurses Women nurses 21st-century Botswana women politicians 21st-century Botswana politicians Members of the National Assembly (Lesotho) National University of Lesotho alumni People from Kanye, Botswana Communication ministers of Lesotho Education ministers of Lesotho Science ministers of Lesotho Lesotho Congress for Democracy politicians Women government ministers of Lesotho

Early life

Politics

See also

References