| Notes |
The Honourable Refiloe Moses Masemene was born in Moyeni, Quthing on May 5, 1955.
After sitting for his primary school leaving examinations at Masitise Primary in 1970, the Honourable Masemene proceeded to St.Thomas Secondary for his Junior Certificate (JC) and to Thabeng High for the Cambridge Overseas Schools Certificate in 1975. He studied BA Law and LL.B at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) from 1976 until 1983. He was admitted to the bar as an advocate of the High Court of Lesotho in November 1983.
The Honourable Masemene took up employment as legal advisor to the Department of Lands Survey and Physical Planning from May 1983, a position he held until he was appointed to the Senate in October 1993 and which he says exposed him to parliamentary practice, legislative formulation and process. He was reappointed to the Senate again after the 1998 General Elections and became Leader of the House, in the Senate, in 1999.
He was sworn in as Minister of Justice, Human Rights, Rehabilitation, and Law and Constitutional Affairs on 22 October 2001.
Co-founder of the Lesotho National League for Visually Impaired Persons (LNLVIP) in 1986 and its vice-president until 1989, Honourable Masemene became night blind at the age of 11 and suffered a gradual loss of vision until total loss occurred around 1984 – 1985 as a result of a genetic condition, retinitis pigmentation. He served three terms as president of the League from 1989 until 1995 and, since then, has served as honorary secretary general.
He is also co-founder and the first elected president of the Lesotho National Federation of the Disabled (LNFOD) and on stepping down was elected honorary secretary general for the period 2000 to 2004. The Hon, Minister also served as a representative of LNFOD on the executive of the Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (LCN) from 1993 to 1995 as well as being a member of the LCN’s human rights and democracy commission.
Honourable Masemene was elected honorary legal adviser to the Southern African Organisation of the Disabled (SAFOD) in 1989 and was able to work as chair working group on inclusion of equality and disability rights clauses in various national constitutions of Southern African countries including Lesotho, South Africa, Malawi and Namibia.
In 1992, he took part in the United Nations meeting of experts reviewing the decade of disabled persons, held in Vancouver, Canada, under the auspices of the UN Economic and Social Council. He has also served a four year term, from 1996, as a board officer of the African Union of the Blind, representing the Southern African region, becoming, during this period, chair of the committees on human rights and of fundraising.
He is currently chair of the Education and Human Rights Committee of the African Union of the Blind (AFUB) as well as of the World Blind Union committee on human rights, constitutional and United Nations issues. |
