Ellen 'Maposholi Molapo was a Mosotho politician. The first woman to play a prominent role in politics in Lesotho, she became its first female member of Parliament when she was appointed to the Senate in 1965.
Ellen 'Maposholi Molapo | |
|---|---|
| Member of the Senate | |
| In office 1965– | |
Biography edit
During the 1950s Molapo lived in the Newclare area of Johannesburg, where she was a member of the Garment Workers Union and became an activist for the African National Congress.[1][2] Having attended first conference of the Basutoland Congress Party (BCP),[3] she began campaigning for the party amongst other Basutoland expatriates working in Transvaal, becoming the first woman amongst the party leadership.[2][4] She also joined the Pan Africanist Congress and was elected treasurer.[5]
In 1960 she left the BCP after a falling out with party leader Ntsu Mokhehle.[3] She and several other PAC leaders were convicted by South African courts in 1961 for running an illegal organisation, with Molapo receiving a twelve-month sentence.[6] The following year she was deported by the South African authorities.[7] She subsequently became a member of the Marematlou Freedom Party headed by her brother Seth Matotoko, who had lived with her while she was in South Africa.[8] She frequently upstaged Matotoko at campaign rallies with her rhetoric and singing,[8] and was regarded as one of the party's most effective campaigners.[4] In April 1965 she was appointed to the Senate, becoming the country's first female member of parliament.[9]
References edit
- ^ Gail M. Gerhart (1977) From Protest to Challenge a Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa 1882-1964: Challenge and Violence 1953-1964, p372
- ^ a b Martin S. Shanguhyia & Toyin Falola (2018) The Palgrave Handbook of African Colonial and Postcolonial History, p177
- ^ a b Marc Epprecht (1992) Women, Class and Politics in Colonial Lesotho, 1930-1965, pp345–346
- ^ a b Marc Epprecht (1995) "Women's 'conservatism' and the politics of gender in late colonial Lesotho", Journal of African History, issue 36, pp29–56
- ^ Suid-Afrikaanse Hofverslae, volume 4, p321
- ^ 2 More PAC Convictions New Age, 9 March 1951
- ^ Welcome For Mrs. Molapo New Age, 1 March 1962
- ^ a b Scott Rosenberg & Richard F. Weisfelder (2013) Historical Dictionary of Lesotho, pp295–296
- ^ Mart Martin (2000) The Almanac of Women and Minorities in World Politics, p229