Margaret Natalie Mensah-Williams (born 25 December 1961) is a

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n politician, diplomat, and prominent SWAPO member. She serves as Namibia's

ambassador to the United States The following table lists ambassadors to the United States, sorted by the representative country or organization. See also *Ambassadors of the United States Notes {{reflist, 30em External linksCurrent and former Ambassadors to the United Sta ...

. Mensah-Williams also served as councillor of

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...

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 Khomas is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its name refers to the Khomas Highland, a high plateau landscape that dominates this administrative unit. Khomas is centered on the capital city Windhoek and provides for this reason superior tran ...

in the National Council, the

upper house An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...

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 in order to contest for a seat in 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 rep ...

, 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 South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...

(now Namibia). She attended school at Keetmanshoop. She obtained a teaching diploma from Dower College,

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, in 1983, a diploma in Housing and Community Development from the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

in 1985, a diploma in Negotiation Skills from the Institute of Management and Leadership Training in

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 bran ...

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

, 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 was ...

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

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, 2010, and 2015. 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 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 2019 Namibian general election in order to contest for a seat in the

, Namibia's lower house, and subsequently became member of Parliament. In December 2020 she was appointed Namibia's

. Mensah-Williams is a member of both the politburo and the central committee 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