Mothudi and FAB push to make the full spectrum of violence against women impossible to ignore Afro-feminist, Tlamelo Mothudi, is deeply passionate about legal interpretation and human rights, an interest shaped by her experiences as a survivor of gender-based violence and by the influence of her inspirational late mother, Joyce Manthobatsang Mothudi, a woman who reinvented herself fearlessly throughout her life. In this conversation with Voice Woman, Tlamelo – who completed her undergraduate studies at the University of KwaZulu Natal (BA, Philosophy, Politics and Law), and went on to attend Rhodes University (LLB) and the University of Cape Town (LLM) – reflects on her legal background, her work in civil society, and her activism through the Feminist Alliance Botswana (FAB), an open, voluntary intersectional feminist collective advocating for women’s right to thrive across economic, social, health, educational and political spheres. “I have over 20 years’ experience in legal interpretation and research.
My working group within FAB focuses on Violence Against Women. I’m also part of the Economic and Climate group, and the Freedom of Choice and Bodily Autonomy group. I advocate for the decriminalisation of abortion in Botswana.
My passion is ensuring that the laws we build are responsive, and that the laws we amend reflect the dynamic nature of our culture.” Watching her mother pivot from nursing to law and later into politics taught Tlamelo that women can carve out any path, even in the face of adversity. That strength has guided her feminist identity and her commitment to legislative reform. Looking back on her final year of LL.B.
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studies at Rhodes University in 2012, she recalls her mother’s boldness. Unable to pay tuition fees, they sought help directly from former President Festus Mogae. “I asked, ‘Mum, how will you even reach him?’ She simply said, ‘I know the former president.’” Undeterred by the Mogae’s security detail upon arrival at his residence, they waited outside until he emerged.
Mma Mothudi explained their situation. “Within no time, I was walking beside him into the FNB branch in Phakalane, where he arranged my sponsorship just in time for enrolment. My mother was a powerhouse,” she remembers.
“I lost her under very painful circumstances, but she is the basis of everything I am.” After graduating, the youngster worked at her university’s law clinic, and briefly in legal practice, before becoming disillusioned by how access to justice was shaped by class, geography, and education. This led her into civil society work at the Public Service Accountability Monitor in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, where she focused on health rights for rural women, service delivery, and legislative oversight. Determined to continue in this space, she returned to Botswana to focus on public interest litigation.
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