Manyeneng: Advocate for women and children’s rights
Ryder Gabathuse | Wednesday February 4, 2026 09:07
Manyeneng is a prominent figure in Botswana politics. She serves as the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and Member of Parliament for Mmopane-Metsimotlhabe, a constituency allocated to the Alliance for Progressives (AP) which is a member of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC). She is a trailblazer, being only the second woman to hold the Deputy Speaker position since the country’s independence in 1966.
The vocal politician is a passionate advocate for women’s empowerment and has been involved in various initiatives, including drafting the Women’s submission to the Presidential Commission on constitutional review.
Despite these challenges, Manyeneng remains committed to her role of advocating for women’s representation and children’s rights. She has urged the SADC member states to implement gender quotas and support women candidates.
The legislator has been involved in initiatives promoting gender equality and children’s rights, and has represented Botswana in regional parliamentary forums. Her work focuses on advancing democratic ideals and supporting women’s political participation.
Manyeneng’s victory during the 2024 General Election can be attributed to several factors.
As a member of the UDC she benefited from the party’s strong performance, which saw them win 36 seats and secure a historic victory, ending the Botswana Democratic Party’s (BDP) 58-year rule.
The MP’s personal strengths, such as her advocacy for women’s representation and her experience as a nurse likely resonated with voters. Her involvement in initiatives promoting gender equality and her participation in the International IDEA-supported Gender Links Women’s Political Participation Academies also demonstrate her commitment to public service.
A nurse-cum-trade unionist-cum politician realised the direction her career was taking after she was fired from her nursing work in 2011.
Her removal came after the country’s so-called mother of all strikes when civil service trade unions had come together for a period of about three months.
During the strike, the civil servants pressurised the government to yield to their favourable salary increment during former president Ian Khama’s tenure.
As civil servants Manyeneng and others were able to amongst others notice the dynamics of workplace politics.
“I then decided to join others in the trenches against confronts and stiffer headwinds that confronted us. I mean, back then I decided to join the workers union which at the time was called BULGSA (Botswana Unified Local Government Service Association),” reminisces Manyeneng.
Whilst a nurse at local government clinics, she started to realise that her rights and those of her peers were generally trampled with impunity by the employer and therefore, she wanted a mouthpiece to vent out her views.
So Manyeneng chose to join a labour movement within her working environment space. She started off joining some committees within the workers union. “I joined the women’s league as a committee member and rose through the union ranks to become a chairperson of the women’s league,” she explains.
Her role means Manyeneng was now able to interact with other activists from different trade unions to talk workers’ rights. She thinks that was where her political eyes got opened.
“I started seeing things differently. I became more active, within the working space. So fast-forward in 2011, there was that worker’s strike, which lasted, I think, about three months. Everyone joined. All unions joined because we had a mother body (federation) called BOFEPUSU. This is where I gained more experience in terms of mobilising and leading workers.”
Post her dismissal from the public service for her role in the strike, she actively participated in politics.
“I became even more active now in partisan politics activism, of which I joined Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD). I was courted by the late Gomolemo Motswaledi, (may his soul rest in peace),” says the MP.
Post the Bobonong tumultuous BMD congress that never was, Manyeneng chose to join the newly formed AP that would be led by the now Botswana’s Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe whose party formed government in 2024 with other parties.
Manyeneng tested her political strength for the first time in 2019 for a council seat at Phakalane under the AP and lost.
“I wanted to be a councillor badly, but I did not win in 2019 and this did not dampen my spirit. I vowed to work harder and harder preparing myself for the 2024 General Election.”
When she was approached by the AP executive leadership who wanted her confirmation if she would be available to contest the 2024 polls, she answered in the affirmative.
Although Manyeneng preferred to vie for a council seat, she was shocked why the party executives preferred that she try her luck for the parliamentary seat in the male-dominated space.
At that juncture, the AP was still negotiating constituency allocations with its coalition partners; the Botswana National Front (BNF) and Botswana People’s Party (BPP).
She vividly remembers facing resistance from activists of other coalition partners, but despite all that Manyeneng had purposed it in her heart that she had to win the constituency for the AP and UDC.
“A lot happened, but I never gave up I persevered, and never disappointed,” she says.
The Mmopane-Metsimotlhabe constituency has a total of eight councillors, five are for the UDC; three are for the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP).
“We are working very well as the Mmopane-Metsimotlhabe political leadership as we are not troubled by our political affiliations at all,” Manyeneng highlights.
She however, admits that they can differ, they can do whatever, “but I don’t feel they’re disregarding my position as the MP, because they’re from the BDP”.
Under the banner of the UDC, Manyeneng garnered a steady 3,431 votes. She was followed by another prominent politician from the BDP: James Lekgetho with 3,311 votes, Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) represented by Watshipi Gilbert got 1,812 vote.
On the other hand, the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) through Mokgweetsi Kgosipula got 1,678 votes, Republican Alternative Party (RAP) represented by Nkosana Nkwalili got 81 votes whilst independent candidate Matshaba Tiro got 23 votes.
Manyeneng admits that she did not simply choose to become a politician from where she had wanted to see her nursing career going.
Instead, she had wished her nursing profession would blossom to top heights, as she had wanted to rise to become a medical doctor, a dream that was automatically deferred by the challenges she never anticipated.
It has since become apparent to her that when one goes through the journey of life, that is when one can meet real challenges and even appreciate and think of how to deal with those challenges.
Manyeneng emphasised that whilst a trade unionist she realised that she needed to stand up for her rights and those of her workmates.
“I wanted to represent them, to say, no, we cannot be doing this. We cannot be treated like that. In a nutshell, that’s how I shifted from nursing.”
She admits that upon her election to Parliament, and later elected as Deputy Speaker, she didn’t know anything about the speakership at the National Assembly.
“I was even shocked to be chosen by my UDC counterparts. I was chosen to represent them,” she says. “So with the speakership, I will say I’m still learning from my Speaker, Dithapelo Korapetse, because he has been there.”
She thinks what she is doing right now has set her on the right path. She is also quick to admit that people are challenging her “because I’m a woman, especially the opposition parliamentarians.”
She feels she is being challenged simply because they know that she is still new and still learning the ropes.
“I’m still learning, and some of the things I’m not yet familiar. But, I have the standing orders with me. I always read them. I always consult with them. If you can realise, in Parliament, we are always having the parliamentary counsel, who is always by the side to give, advice if need be.”
The Deputy Speaker also faced criticism and controversy. In one instance, BDP MP Palelo Mataosane, leading to a heated exchange in Parliament, accused her of bias.
Another MP, Motlhaleemang Moalosi, petitioned the Speaker over an amended motion, claiming Manyeneng allowed an alteration that changed the original intent.
Despite these challenges, Manyeneng remains committed to her role, pushing for meaningful change and representation in Botswana’s Parliament. To her sending errant legislators out of Parliament, has in some quarters been misconstrued as a sin.
“I did it and would do it according to parliamentary standing orders,” she pointed out.
“If you remember, I tried to put down the honorable member, but he insisted on talking endlessly. The standing orders are very clear. If you caution repeatedly you can take your decision now.”
Manyeneng is not bothered by accusations of heavy-handedness on opposition legislators, “because I know I have to stand firm and execute my function fairly. I also have to defend my position even as a woman. I think this issue of members being chaotic, it’s just a way of challenging me to see if I have a stand.”
She also gathers solace that she is still on a learning curve.
She doesn’t see herself going back to nursing as practitioner anytime soon.
“But, what I know is I can continue with my politics, but at the same time, I can give pertinent advice where it is needed. Like in my constituency, I always go to the clinic to see how I can assist, because being a nurse; you are just being a nurse. You are born a nurse, you know you are a nurse.”
Manyeneng is a Mokwena woman married to a Morolong man in Barolong Farms, but she grew up in Mogoditshane, Botswana’s largest village with an estimated population of about 88,098 people (2022 population and housing census). She is worried that Mmopane-Metsimotlhabe is one of the constituencies that are least developed. “No tarred roads, especially in Metsimotlhabe. And even in Mmopane, the old village. We now see Mmopane Block 1, emerging in the entire constituency.”
She is struggling to fight for the cake that they are supposed to share from the national budget. But at the same time, the package of roads is coming with, streetlights, and with storm water drainage.
With the ailing economy set for recovery, Manyeneng says the country will see some changes including in her constituency that is still struggling with basic services.
The 57-year-old politician is married to attorney Alan Manyeneng and has three children, two ladies and one man. She is Catholic by birth, although she is married to a Methodist. She is also a gym fanatic as she is currently a member of Virgin Active and she challenges fellow Batswana to work on their state of health through gym and other available amenities.