Justice Nthomeng Majara, the first woman to be appointed Chief Justice of Lesotho, becomes the first woman to be appointed Deputy Prime Minister in the country, while Dr. Adelaide Retselisitsoe Matlanyane, the first woman to head the Central Bank of Lesotho, has been appointed Minister of Finance in the government headed by the new Prime Minister, Samuel Matekane, previously a successful businessman in the country.
The 15 new ministers were sworn in on Friday, November 4, at the Royal Palace in Maseru, in the presence of King Lestsie III, Queen Masenate Bereng Seeiso, Prime Minister Samuel Matekane, the High Court Judges and other government officials.
As promised by the new Prime Minister, the number of ministers was reduced from 26 to 15.
The Prime Minister, Ntsooane Samuel Matekane, is also Minister of Defense, National Security and Environment.
First female Deputy Prime Minister
Justice Nthomeng Majara has been appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice, Law and Parliamentary Affairs, the first woman to be appointed Deputy Prime Minister, after being the first woman to be appointed Chief Justice of Lesotho, a position she held from 2014 to 2019.
Justice Nthomeng Majara was born in Lesotho on June 8, 1963. She was educated at the National University of Lesotho, where she obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1992. She also holds a Master of Laws (LL.M) from King’s College London, where she graduated in 1997. She has proven competence in criminal law and procedure and relevant experience as a Magistrate, Supreme Court Judge and ex-officio judge of the Court of Appeal of Lesotho.
After graduation, she was a lecturer at the National University of Lesotho from 1995 to 2000. Thereafter, she worked as a research associate at the Women and Law in Southern Africa Research and Educational Trust until 2003, when she was appointed as the Head of Internal Affairs at the Lesotho Revenue Authority. She held this position for only 4 months in 2004, before becoming a High Court Judge in the Lesotho Court of Appeal in 2004.
Highly regarded morally and known for her impartiality and integrity, Justice Nthomeng Majara was appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal in 2014 and served in that position until 2019. In addition to these positions, she chaired the Commission of Inquiry into Child Adoption in Lesotho and became a member of the Council of State. She also served briefly as a judge of the High Court of Namibia in 2010.
As a professor at the National University of Lesotho, Nthomeng Majara has conducted research and teaching activities related to the criminal justice system and has edited or co-edited research papers on women’s legal issues at the national, regional and international levels.
First female Governor of the Central Bank of Lesotho
Dr. Adelaide Retselisitsoe Matlanyane, former governor of the Central Bank of Lesotho and the first woman to hold that position in the country, has been appointed Minister of Finance in the new government.
She was governor of the Central Bank of Lesotho and chair of the bank’s board of directors from 2012 until December 31, 2021. She holds a PhD in Economics, specializing in Macroeconometrics and Economic Modeling, from the University of Pretoria, South Africa; a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Botswana; and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the National University of Lesotho. His first name “Retšelisitsoe” means “Sympahie” in the Sesotho language.
Dr. Retselisitsoe Matlanyane joined the Bank in April 2006 as Second Deputy Governor to oversee the Research, Financial Markets and Operations departments. She was promoted to Senior Deputy Governor in April 2007 and then to Acting Governor, a position she held until her appointment as Governor.
Prior to her distinguished career at the Central Bank of Lesotho, Dr. Retselisitsoe Matlanyane was a lecturer in the Department of Economics at the National University of Lesotho. Prior to that, she worked at various universities and regional and international institutions in different capacities, including as a member of the Board of Directors and Vice Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Lesotho Revenue Authority, Chairperson of the African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association, Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute (MEFMI), and a member of the Steering Committees of AFRITAC (Technical Assistance Centre) South of the IMF and the African Training Institute (ATI). She was also an economist in the Africa Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
She has also served as the representative of the SADC Central Bank Governors on the Financial Stability Board Advisory Group for Sub-Saharan Africa; and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Macroeconomic and Financial Management Institute of Eastern and Southern Africa (MEFMI). In addition, she has led and continues to lead financial sector reforms, including modernization of payment systems, legislative changes that enable the development of the financial system, promotion of financial inclusion, modernization and strengthening of governance structures of financial institutions, and promotion of access to finance, especially for women.
