Moeketsi Majoro (born 3 November 1961) is a Mosotho economist and politician who served as the sixth

prime minister of Lesotho This is a list of prime ministers of Lesotho () since the formation of the post of Prime Minister of Lesotho in 1965, to the present day. A total of seven people have served as Prime Minister of Lesotho (not counting one Acting Prime Minister a ...

from May 2020 to October 2022. He was previously the

minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

in the cabinet of

Tom Thabane Thomas Motsoahae Thabane (born 28 May 1939) is a Mosotho politician who was the fifth prime minister of Lesotho from 2012 to 2015 and from 2017 to 2020. He founded the All Basotho Convention (ABC) in 2006 and led the party until 2022. Thaban ...

from 2017 to 2020. Majoro has been representing the Thetsane Constituency No. 33 in the National Assembly since his election in 2017. He was formerly a senator and the minister of Development Planning from 2013 to 2015. Majoro is a member 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 M ...

(ABC).

Early life and education

Moeketsi Majoro was born on 3 November 1961 in

Tsikoane Leribè is a district of Lesotho. It has an area of 2,828 km2 and a population in 2016 of approximately 337,500. Hlotse is the capital or camptown of the district. The district has one additional town, namely Maputsoe. In the west, Leribe bo ...

Leribe District Leribè is a district of Lesotho. It has an area of 2,828 km2 and a population in 2016 of approximately 337,500. Hlotse is the capital or camptown of the district. The district has one additional town, namely Maputsoe. In the west, Leribe b ...

, in

Basutoland 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 ...

. He obtained a

BA degree Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in Economics from the National University of Lesotho and achieved both a PhD in Natural Resource Economics and a

Master of Science degree A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in Agricultural Economics from the

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant univer ...

Career

Majoro was a lecturer in economics at the National University of Lesotho between 1991 and 2000. He joined the finance ministry as a fiscal analyst in 2000 and worked in the position before he was promoted to be the principal secretary in 2004. He served the Africa Group 1 Constituency of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as both Executive Director and Alternate Executive Director between 2008 and 2012. In January 2013, Majoro was appointed Minister of Development Planning by Prime Minister

. He had earlier been appointed as a Senator. The government was voted out in the 2015 general election. In the 2017 general election, he was elected the MP for the Thetsane Constituency No. 33. Thabane returned as Prime Minister and appointed him the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", ...

. In 2020, Thabane came under pressure to resign due to his alleged involvement in his ex-wife's murder. On 22 March 2020, the ABC Group in the National Assembly elected Majoro as Thabane's successor with 26 out of 46 votes.

Premiership

On 12 May 2020, Majoro was announced as the incoming Prime Minister after Thabane had lost his majority in the legislature. Thabane announced his resignation on 18 May with it taking effect the next day. Majoro was sworn in as Prime Minister on 20 May. He announced his

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

the following day, which included Democratic Congress leader Mathibeli Mokhothu as his deputy. It consists of mostly ABC and DC MPs with other opposition party leaders serving in the cabinet. Majoro made his first international trip as Prime Minister on 12 June to South Africa and met with President

Cyril Ramaphosa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician who is currently serving as the fifth democratically elected president of South Africa. Formerly an anti-apartheid activist, trade union leader, and ...

Personal life

Majoro is married to 'Masekoalane 'Mamusa Rankhelepe. The couple have two children.

References

External links

Management - Honourable Minister

Meet Lesotho’s new prime minister designate, Moeketsi Majoro – EWN
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Majoro, Moeketsi Living people 1961 births Prime Ministers of Lesotho People from Leribe District Government ministers of Lesotho Finance ministers of Lesotho Members of the National Assembly (Lesotho) Members of the Senate (Lesotho) National University of Lesotho alumni Washington State University alumni All Basotho Convention politicians