Constance Seoposengwe is a South African politician, anti-apartheid activist and diplomat. A member of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

, she is currently the South African High Commissioner to

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked as an enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest mountains in Southern Africa. It has an area of over and has a populatio ...

. She had previously served as a member of the

National Assembly of South Africa The National Assembly is the directly elected house of the Parliament of South Africa, located in Cape Town, Western Cape. It consists of four hundred members who are elected every five years using a party-list proportional representation sys ...

Biography

Seoposengwe was a member of the United Democratic Front and an organiser for the South African Domestic Workers Union. She also worked as a teacher. While pregnant at the age of 22 in 1987, Seoposengwe was tortured and held captive on the sixth floor of the Transvaal Police Station in

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

. After apartheid, she became a member of the

Northern Cape Provincial Legislature The Northern Cape Provincial Legislature is the legislature of the Northern Cape province of South Africa. It is a unicameral body of 30 members elected every five years. The current legislature was elected on 8 May 2019 and has an African Na ...

in 1994, representing the

. In 1999 she was elected deputy speaker of the legislature. She was appointed as

Member of the Executive Council In South Africa, the Executive Council of a province is the cabinet of the provincial government. The Executive Council consists of the Premier and five to ten other members,'' Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996'', Chapter 6: "P ...

(MEC) for Safety and Security in 2000. In the same year, she exposed how she was verbally abused by drunk white police officers at the

Hartswater Hartswater is an agricultural town on the N18 national route some 23 km south of Taung and 36 km north of Warrenton. The centre of the Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme, it became a municipality in April 1960. It takes its name from the Hart ...

police station. Seoposengwe was elected speaker of the legislature after the 2004 election, a position she held until 2009. Seoposengwe has since campaigned for the changing of place names in Kimberley. She campaigned for the changing of the name of the Transvaal Police Station in 2011, and it has since been changed to the Kimberley Police Station. In 2013, she was interviewed for the SABC board. Seoposengwe appeared on the ANC list of national parliamentary candidates in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

. She was not elected to parliament at the election, however, she soon entered 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 ...

as a replacement for

Sibongile Besani Sibongile Jeremia Besani is a South African politician who served as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa between May and July 2019. Besani is a member of the African National Congress. Political career Besani is a member of the ...

. Seoposengwe was a member of the Standing Committee on Auditor General and an alternate member of the Portfolio Committee on Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation. On 18 July 2022, Seoposengwe resigned as a Member of Parliament. She had been appointed South African High Commissioner to

. She presented her credentials to King

Letsie III Letsie III (born Seeiso Bereng; 17 July 1963) is King of Lesotho. He succeeded his father, 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, and Letsie became king a ...

on 18 August 2022.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seoposengwe, Constance Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Tswana people People from the Northern Cape Anti-apartheid activists Members of the Northern Cape Provincial Legislature Women members of provincial legislatures of South Africa Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Women members of the National Assembly of South Africa