Katlego Sekhu

Unfortunately, the First Lady Dr. Motsepe received some negative attention during President Ramaphosa’s inauguration earlier this week.
Some people on social media critisised her appearance, as they have done with the President and former President Jacob Zuma.
It seems like insulting and disrespecting politicians has become acceptable in our society. Siz The World asked, “Why is this kind of behaviour normalised? And why do we get to decide who deserves disrespect?”
Born in Soweto and raised in the rural villages of Mathibestad near Hammanskraal and her ancestral home, Mmakau in the North West province, Dr Motsepe is the eldest of seven siblings and a mother to four children.
She is a qualified medical doctor, holding a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a Master of Public Health in Maternal Child Health and Aging from the Harvard School of Public Health. She has also completed a Social Entrepreneurship Certificate Programme at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS).
Dr Motsepe is currently the Patron of the Early Care Foundation (previously ASHA Trust), a non-profit organisation which provides early childhood development support programmes for home-based crèches in disadvantaged communities.
She serves as patron of the South African Civil Society for Women’s, Adolescents’ and Children’s Health (SACSoWACH), the Students Sponsorship Program and a trustee of the Hospice Association of the Witwatersrand. Dr Motsepe is a former member of the National Medical and Dental Association (NAMDA), and the boards of the Vaal Reefs Disaster Trust and the Kids Haven Foundation.
In her daily work, Dr Motsepe is guided by the conviction that “economic and social development is a pre-requisite for communities to lead socially and economically productive lives’” as stated in the World Health Organisation’s Alma-Ata Declaration of 1978.
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