Gladys Keitumetse Theresa Kokorwe (born 20 November 1947) is a

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label=Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kalahar ...

politician who was the

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

from 2014 to 2019. She is a member of the

Botswana Democratic Party The Botswana Democratic Party ( abbr. BDP) is the governing party in Botswana. Its chairman is the Vice-President of Botswana, Slumber Tsogwane, and its symbol is a lift jack. The party has ruled Botswana continuously since gaining independenc ...

(BDP). Prior to entering politics, Kokorwe was a senior civil servant. She was elected to the National Assembly at the 1994 general election, and served as an assistant minister in the government of

Festus Mogae Festus Gontebanye Mogae (born 21 August 1939) is a Botswana politician and economist who served as the third President of Botswana from 1998 to 2008. He succeeded Quett Masire as President in 1998 and was re-elected in October 2004; after ten y ...

from 1999 to 2004. She was deputy speaker from 2004 to 2008, and then a minister in

Ian Khama Seretse Khama Ian Khama (born 27 February 1953) is a Botswana politician and former military officer who was the fourth President of the Republic of Botswana from 1 April 2008 to 1 April 2018. After serving as Commander of the Botswana Defence ...

's government from 2008 to 2009, when she left parliament. Kokorwe served as Botswana's ambassador to

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

from 2009 to 2014, and then re-entered politics after the 2014 election, when she was the successful BDP candidate for speaker.

Early life

Kokorwe was born in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa, where her father (originally from Botswana) was working. She was sent back to Botswana at the age of 10, and went to

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

Thamaga Thamaga is a large village located in the Kweneng District of Botswana and about 40 km west of the capital city Gaborone. It is home to 19,547 inhabitants at the 2011 census. It is becoming year by year like a suburb part of the Gaborone ag ...

Kweneng District Kweneng is one of the districts of Botswana and is the recent historical homeland of the Bakwena people, the first group in Botswana converted to Christianity by famed missionary David Livingstone. Various landmarks, including Livingstone's Cave, ...

. Her secondary schooling was completed at Moeng College, a boarding school in the

Tswapong Hills The Tswapong Hills are a mountain range in the Central District, Botswana. They rise to an elevation of 300 to 400 m above the hardveld of the almost 900 m high surrounding plateau. Geologically, these flat-topped hills are similar to the Waterber ...

. After leaving school, Kokorwe joined the public service, where she initially worked as a typist and minor clerical worker. She eventually came to hold various high-level administrative positions in local government, serving for periods as the commercial officer for

Lobatse Lobatse is a town in south-eastern Botswana, 70 kilometres south of the capital Gaborone, situated in a valley running north towards Gaborone and close to the border with South Africa. Lobatse has a population of 29,772 as of 2022. The town is an ...

, the town clerk of

Sowa The SoWa Art & Design District (South of Washington) in the South End of Boston, Massachusetts, USA, is a community of artist studios, contemporary art galleries, boutiques, design showrooms, and restaurants. Once an area of neglected warehouse ...

and

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census. Gaboron ...

, and assistant council secretary for the

Kgatleng District Kgatleng is one of the districts of Botswana, coterminous with the homeland of the Bakgatla people. Its capital is Mochudi, the hometown of protagonist Precious Ramotswe in Alexander McCall Smith's popular ''The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency'' s ...

. After a term as the chief training officer for local government officials, she returned to the

as its

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

(CEO)."Typing her speaker's script"
Mmegi Online, 20 April 2007. Retrieved 16 October 2016.

Politics

1994–2008

At the 1994 general election, Kokorwe was elected to the

for the

(BDP), representing the

constituency previously held by

Peter Mmusi Peter Simako Otlaadisang Mmusi (born 16 May 1929, died October 1994) was the Vice-President of Botswana from 3 January 1983 until 1992. He also served as the Minister of Finance from 1980 to 1989, and as the Minister of Local Government and Lands ...

(a former

vice-president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on t ...

who died just before the election). She switched to the new Kweneng South constituency at the 1999 election, and was subsequently appointed Assistant Minister of Local Government (under senior minister Margaret Nasha) by President

. Kokorwe was left out of the ministry after the 2004 election, but was instead elected deputy speaker, becoming the first woman to hold the position. In March 2004, she had reportedly been censured by BDP officials for publicly suggesting that Louis Nchindo (the managing director of the Debswana Diamond Company) should enter politics. This was perceived as a threat to the party's existing leadership.

2008–present

In April 2008, Kokorwe was appointed Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture in the new cabinet formed by

, who had succeeded

as president. She served as a minister until the 2009 general election, at which she retired from parliament. In August 2008, Kokorwe had become the first parliamentarian in Botswana's history to have a

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

become law. Her bill, which she had tabled before being appointed to cabinet, aimed to better protect victims of domestic violence, and was passed into law in September 2008 as the ''Domestic Violence Act''. A few months after leaving parliament, in December 2009, Ian Khama appointed Kokorwe as Botswana's ambassador to

. She was based in

Harare Harare (; formerly Salisbury ) is the capital and most populous city of Zimbabwe. The city proper has an area of 940 km2 (371 mi2) and a population of 2.12 million in the 2012 census and an estimated 3.12 million in its metropolitan ...

, but also had non-resident accreditation to

Malawi Malawi (; or aláwi Tumbuka: ''Malaŵi''), officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa that was formerly known as Nyasaland. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

, and

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

. In November 2014, after the 2014 general election, Kokorwe returned to politics as the BDP nominee for the speakership of the National Assembly. She defeated the previous speaker, Margaret Nasha, in a 41–21 vote along party lines, Nasha having been re-nominated by the opposition parties. Nasha was also a BDP member, but had fallen out with President Khama. Before the question of the speakership was put before parliament, there had been a controversy over whether the vote should be undertaken by voice or by

secret ballot The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vote ...

. The government claimed that a secret ballot would be unconstitutional, but a court ruling found that it was not."Khama loses Nasha battle"
''Weekend Post'', 10 November 2014. Retrieved 16 October 2016.

Honors

* Honourable Kokorwe has been awarded a Presidential Order of Honour (PH)

External links

* http://www.weekendpost.co.bw/26209/columns/gladys-kokorwe-a-living-legend/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kokorwe, Gladys 1947 births Living people Ambassadors of Botswana to Zimbabwe Botswana Democratic Party politicians 21st-century Botswana women politicians 21st-century Botswana politicians Members of the National Assembly (Botswana) Politicians from Cape Town Speakers of the National Assembly (Botswana) South African emigrants to Botswana Botswana women diplomats Women ambassadors Culture ministers of Botswana Sports ministers of Botswana Youth ministers of Botswana Women legislative speakers