Dithapelo Keorapetse

Dithapelo Keorapetse (born 24 February 1982) is a Motswana politician who is the current Speaker of the National Assembly of Botswana since November 2024. A Member of Parliament from 2014 to 2024, he previously was the Leader of the Opposition from 2022 to 2024. He is affiliated with the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC), having been expelled from the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) in 2022.

Biography Keorapetse was born on 24 February 1982 and is from Selebi-Phikwe, Botswana. Outside of politics, he worked as a political science and public administration lecturer for the University of Botswana, where he served from 2008 to 2019, although he was on unpaid leave from 2014 to 2019. He also worked for the Botswana Police College and was on the staff of the Botswana Defence Force (BDF). He became Botswana's youngest active MP and was chosen to be the Opposition Whip for the 11th Parliament of Botswana. He joined the public accounts committee and later became its chairman. In 2022, he challenged Dumelang Saleshando for the role of Leader of the Opposition (LOO). He was successful and received the position, but him and four other BCP members were then expelled from the party for defying the BCP Central Committee in getting him the role. He thus became an independent with an affiliation with the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC). Keorapetse ran for re-election to a third term in 2024 under the UDC banner, and noted that by that time he had introduced eight bills, "a few motions and hundreds of questions and have debated all major policy proposals."

Keorapetse lost his bid for re-election. However, in November, he was nominated to be Speaker of the National Assembly of Botswana. The only nominee, he received the endorsements of MPs from several parties and was elected, becoming the 10th person to be the assembly's speaker.