Mathabiso Angeline Lepono (born 1942) is a Mosotho politician. She was a longtime minister of gender, youth, and sports under
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 ...
's prime minister
Pakalitha Mosisili
Bethuel Pakalitha Mosisili (born 14 March 1945) is a former Mosotho politician who was the fourth prime minister of Lesotho from May 1998 to June 2012 and again from March 2015 to June 2017.Maseru District.
Due to apartheid law, her mother, a domestic worker, was not able to stay with her. so she spent her childhood living with various relatives across South Africa, from Klerksdorp to Orlando. She faced abusive environments in some of her many foster homes.
She attended school at Blessed Martin de Porres in South Africa. After completing elementary school in 1957, she returned to Lesotho with her mother. Back in Lesotho, she got a job as an office assistant at a hospital. Her supervisors enrolled her at St. Stephen's High School in Mohale's Hoek, with her work supervisor and one of her teachers funding her education. Her first introduction to politics was in this period, when she joined the
Basutoland African Congress
Basutoland was a British Crown colony that existed from 1884 to 1966 in present-day Lesotho. Though the Basotho (then known as Basuto) and their territory had been under British control starting in 1868 (and ruled by Cape Colony from 1871), th ...
as a youth member.
Though she was offered a scholarship to study abroad in 1966, she chose to remain in Lesotho and marry Ntate Lepono. She attempted to continue her education in Lesotho but was held back by financial difficulties.
Political career
Lepono entered politics as a member of the
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 ...
party, at one point leading its women's league.
She first joined the cabinet of longtime prime minister
Pakalitha Mosisili
Bethuel Pakalitha Mosisili (born 14 March 1945) is a former Mosotho politician who was the fourth prime minister of Lesotho from May 1998 to June 2012 and again from March 2015 to June 2017.
While serving as gender minister, she oversaw passage of the Legal Capacity of Married Persons Act of 2006, which removed men's marital power over their wives and gave married women more rights, as well as the 2003 Sexual Offences Act, which recognized
marital rape
Marital rape or spousal rape is the act of sexual intercourse with one's spouse without the spouse's consent. The lack of consent is the essential element and need not involve physical violence. Marital rape is considered a form of domestic vi ...
as a crime, among other provisions.
By 2011, Lepono was one of seven women ministers in the cabinet, alongside
'Mamphono Khaketla
Mamphono Khaketla (born 5 March 1960) is a Lesotho mathematician and senator who served as Minister of Finance from March 2015 to June 2017.
Early life and education
Khaketla was born in Maseru on 5 March 1960 to Bennett Makalo and Caroline N ...
Mphu Keneileo Ramatlapeng
Mphu Ramatlapeng (born c. 1953) is a Lesotho politician, businesswoman and non-profit executive.
Early life
Mphu Ramatlapeng was born circa 1953 in Lesotho. She earned a medical degree from the Kharkiv National Medical University, followed by a ...
Pontso Suzan Matumelo Sekatle
Pontso S. M. Sekatle (born 26 May 1957) is a politician and academic in Lesotho. Sekatle lectured at the National University of Lesotho from 1984 to 2001. In June 2001, she was appointed to the Senate of Lesotho, and on July 6, 2001 she became Mi ...
.
In early 2012, she left the party alongside Mosisili to form the
Democratic Congress
The Democratic Congress is a political party in Lesotho that split from the Lesotho Congress for Democracy. It is led by Mathibeli Mokhothu.
History
Before the 2012 election, the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy split, with Prime Minis ...
. She then chose not to stand in 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 ...
, retiring from political office that year.
For over a decade, until her retirement in 2012, she was an elected member of Lesotho's National Assembly, representing
Mafeteng District
Mafeteng is a district of Lesotho. It has an area of 2,119 km2 and a population in 2016 of 178,222. Mafeteng is the capital or camptown, and only town in the district. In the west, Mafeteng borders on the Free State Province of South Africa ...
's Likhoele constituency.
As a politician, Lepono is known for both her forceful oratory and her emotional response to political conflict. She has remained involved in Democratic Congress politics since her departure from office.