Limpho Justice Tau (born 13 June 1970) is a Mosotho politician who has been the Minister in the Prime Minister's Office in Sam Matekane's Cabinet since November 2022. A member of the

Revolution for Prosperity Revolution for Prosperity () is a social liberal political party in Lesotho led by millionaire businessman Sam Matekane. History The party was launched by Sam Matekane on 22 March 2022. According to the preliminary results of the 2022 Lesotho ...

party, Tau serves in the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

. Tau had previously led the Democratic Party, and was the party's sole member in the National Assembly from 2017 until his defection to the RFP in March 2022.

Background and education

Tau was born in 1970. He earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

from the

National University of Lesotho The National University of Lesotho, the main and oldest university in Lesotho, is located in Roma, Lesotho, Roma, southeast of Maseru, the capital of Lesotho. The Roma valley is broad and is surrounded by a barrier of rugged mountains which pro ...

and a

master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

from the

University of the Free State The University of the Free State (; Sotho language, Sesotho: ''Yunivesithi ya Freistata'') is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State (province), Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It wa ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. Tau is the founder and current chairman of the Limpho Tau Foundation. He was the president of Lioli Football Club from 2007 through 2009. He is a member of the Catholic Christian Life Community (CLC) Sodality/ Tau is married and has four children.

Political career

Tau stood unsuccessfully for 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 repr ...

in the 2015 general election as the

Basotho National Party The Basotho National Party is a political party in Lesotho, founded in 1959 in colonial Basutoland as the Basutoland National Party by Leabua Jonathan. He was Prime Minister from the 1965 Basutoland general election, 1965 general election until t ...

candidate in the Teya-Teyaneng No. 24 constituency. He was the BNP's constituency chair. On 26 April 2016, Tau resigned from the BNP. He and other former BNP members formed the Democratic Party of Lesotho the following month. The party won one seat in the National Assembly at the 2017 general election through

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

and Tau was appointed to take up the seat. Following the launch of businessman

Sam Matekane Ntsokoane Samuel Matekane (born 15 March 1958) is a Mosotho businessman and politician who is the current Prime Minister of Lesotho. Prior to running, he was considered to be the richest person in the country. Matekane made his fortune in diam ...

's political party, the

, in March 2022, Tau announced that he would be joining the party. Tau did not stand for re-election under the RFP ticket at the general election held in October 2022, which the RFP won. He was instead appointed to Senate by King

Letsie III Letsie III (born Mohato Bereng Seeiso; 17 July 1963) is King of Lesotho. He succeeded his father, Bereng Seeiso Moshoeshoe II, who was forced into exile in 1990. His father was briefly restored in 1995 but died in a car crash in early 1996, so L ...

on 3 November 2023. Tau was sworn in as the Minister in the Prime Minister's Office the next day following his appointment by Matekane.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Matekane, Sam 1970 births Living people Revolution for Prosperity politicians Members of the National Assembly (Lesotho) Basotho National Party politicians Government ministers of Lesotho University of the Free State alumni National University of Lesotho alumni