Margaret Natalie Mensah-Williams (born 25 December 1961) is a Namibian politician, diplomat, and prominent SWAPO member. She serves as Namibia's ambassador to the United States. Mensah-Williams also served as councillor of Windhoek

Khomasdal North Khomasdal North is a constituency in Windhoek in the Khomas Region of Namibia. it had 25,550 registered voters. The constituency consists of parts of the suburbs Khomasdal, Katutura, and Otjomuise. It had a population of 43,921 in 2011, up from ...

constituency from 1998 until 2019, and from this position was elected to represent Khomas Region in the National Council, the upper house of the Namibian Parliament from 2015 to 2019. In the National Council she was elected deputy chairperson in 1998, and

chairperson The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

in 2015. She resigned from all regional representative positions prior to the

2019 Namibian general election General elections were held in Namibia on 27 November 2019. Ballots were cast using electronic voting. A total of eleven candidates ran for the presidency and fifteen political parties contested the National Assembly elections. Hage Geingob of S ...

in order to contest for a seat in the National Assembly, Namibia's lower house, and subsequently became member of Parliament.

Early life and education

Mensah-Williams was born in Mariental in central South West Africa (now Namibia). She attended school at

Keetmanshoop Keetmanshoop is a city in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia, lying on the Trans-Namib Railway from Windhoek to Upington in South Africa. It is named after Johann Keetman, a German industrialist and benefactor of the city. History Bef ...

. She obtained a teaching diploma from Dower College, South Africa, in 1983, a diploma in Housing and Community Development from the University of Cape Town in 1985, a diploma in Negotiation Skills from the Institute of Management and Leadership Training in Windhoek in 1992, and a further diploma in Management and Leadership from the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute in

Arusha Arusha City is a Tanzanian city and the regional capital of the Arusha Region, with a population of 416,442 plus 323,198 in the surrounding Arusha District Council (2012 census). Located below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern b ...

, Tanzania, in 1993. She also holds a Master of Business Administration. Mensah-Williams ventured into politics during her time as a student at the University of Cape Town where she was involved in organising protest marches against the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid wa ...

regime both in her native Namibia and in South Africa. After university, she began her career as a teacher and lateron worked in civil society.

Political career

In the 1998 regional elections, Mensah-Williams became councillor of

on a SWAPO ticket. She was subsequently selected to represent Khomas Region in the National Council, and in 1999 she became its vice-chairperson (Deputy Speaker), the first woman to be elected to a major decision-making position in Namibia. Mensah-Williams was re-elected as councillor for Khomasdal North in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull, Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A ...

, and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

. She also continued to serve in the National Council and was elected chairperson in 2015. Until March 2018, Mensah-Williams served for two consecutive terms as member of the

Inter-Parliamentary Union The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU; french: Union Interparlementaire, UIP) is an international organization of national parliaments. Its primary purpose is to promote democratic governance, accountability, and cooperation among its members; other ...

Executive Committee and served the same body as the President of the

IPU Ipu is a percussion instrument made from gourds that is often used to provide a beat for hula dancing. There are two types of ipu, the ipu heke (), which is a double gourd made by taking two gourds of different sizes, cutting them and joining t ...

Bureau of Women Parliamentarians for two terms. Furthermore, she was elected vice-chairperson of the IPU Working Group on Syria during the 137th IPU Assembly in Russia. She resigned from all regional representative positions prior to the

in order to contest for a seat in the National Assembly, Namibia's lower house, and subsequently became member of Parliament. In December 2020 she was appointed Namibia's ambassador to the United States. Mensah-Williams is a member of both the politburo and the

central committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party organizations, the c ...

of the SWAPO Party. She is married with three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mensah-Williams, Margaret 1961 births Living people 20th-century Namibian women politicians 21st-century Namibian women politicians Chairpersons of the National Council (Namibia) Eastern and Southern African Management Institute alumni Namibian women in politics People from Windhoek SWAPO politicians University of Cape Town alumni 20th-century Namibian politicians 21st-century Namibian politicians