Margarida Adamugy Talapa (born 5 June 1962) is a Mozambican politician who has been President of the Assembly of the Republic since January 2025.

Early life

Margarida Adamugy Talapa was born in

Memba The Memba are a people of Arunachal Pradesh. The Memba population is currently around four to five thousand. Local genealogies suggested that they came from Tibet and settled in the region several centuries ago. The Membas follow Nyingmapa Ti ...

Nampula Province Nampula is a Provinces of Mozambique, province of northern Mozambique. It has an area of and a population of 5,758,920, making it the most populous province in Mozambique (2017 census). Nampula is the capital of the province. History Under Port ...

, on 5 June 1962. She is a member of the Macua ethnic group.

Career

Talapa joined

FRELIMO FRELIMO (; from , ) is a democratic socialist political party in Mozambique. It has governed the country since its independence from Portugal in 1975. Founded in 1962, FRELIMO began as a nationalist movement fighting for the self-determination ...

in 1974, just after the country's

war of independence Wars of national liberation, also called wars of independence or wars of liberation, are conflicts fought by nations to gain independence. The term is used in conjunction with wars against foreign powers (or at least those perceived as foreign) ...

ended. She joined the party's youth and women's movements in 1976. She was a member of the first Secretariat of the

Mozambican Youth Organisation The Mozambican Youth Organisation (, OJM), the oldest and largest youth organisation in Mozambique, is the youth wing of the FRELIMO FRELIMO (; from , ) is a democratic socialist political party in Mozambique. It has governed the country since ...

(OJM) in the District of Member in 1977. In August 1991, she became a member of the Frelimo Central Committee. From 1994, Talapa worked in the provincial and central offices preparing for elections. In 1997, she was elected as a delegate for the party's seventh congress. Talapa was elected to parliament in 2000. She was elected to the central committee of the party and then in February 2010 she was elected to the lead the party's parliamentary group. She was deputy head of the parliamentary group from 2000 to 2009. During the 2012 congress, she played a significant role in helping

Armando Guebuza Armando Emílio Guebuza (born 20 January 1943) is a Mozambique, Mozambican politician who was the third President of Mozambique from 2005 to 2015. Career Guebuza, born at Murrupula in Nampula Province, joined the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRE ...

maintain control of the party and spoke of her admiration for him. Talapa was the government appointed non-executive director of telecom company Mcel from 2007 to 2013, resigning after the parliament approved a law of public integrity that limited conflicts of interest. Talapa served as Minister of Labour and Social Security from 2020 to January 2025 in the government of President

Filipe Nyusi Filipe Jacinto Nyusi (; born 9 February 1959) is a Mozambican politician who was the fourth president of Mozambique from 2015 to 2025. He has also served as the Chairman of the Southern African Development Community from 2020 to 2022. During his ...

. Talapa was elected chair of the Assembly of the Republic on 13 January 2025 after standing as the sole candidate for the ruling Frelimo Party. She is the third woman to serve as parliamentary speaker in Mozambique, succeeding

Esperança Bias Esperança Bias (born 28 July 1958) is a Mozambican politician. She is a graduate of the Faculty of Economy at the Eduardo Mondlane University. From 1999 to 2005, she served as the Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources (beginning in 1999). From 2 ...

who was President from 2020 to 2025. In her first speech as President of the Assembly, Talapa said she was aware she was taking over at a challenging time and that she would seek to ensure the Assembly remains a worthy representative of all Mozambicans. She said, "We will work with all living forces to pacify society, with national unity and the strengthening of democracy, tolerance and a culture of peace. Regardless of whether we are from different parliamentary benches, we must look to the people." In May 2025, Talapa spoke on a panel on "The Role of Women for Environmental Well-Being" at the 10th International Ecological Congress in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Personal life

Talapa is a

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

. Her daughter, Anchia Safina Talapa Formiga was elected to the Parliamentary Assembly in 2025.

References

{{reflist