Margaret Nasha

Margaret Nnananyana Nasha (born 6 August 1947) is a Botswana politician who served as the Speaker of the National Assembly from 2009 to 2014. She was the first woman to hold the position. One of ten siblings, Nasha spent her early childhood in Johannesburg, South Africa, living with an older sister. She was retained as a minister when Masire was replaced by Festus Mogae in April 1998. She was defeated by Dumelang Saleshando, another BCP candidate, at the 2004 election, but was able to remain in parliament as a nominee of President Mogae.

2009–present After the 2009 general election, Nasha won the BDP nomination for the speakership. She was elected to the position unopposed, and became the first woman to hold the position. During her time as speaker, Nasha took steps to strengthen Botswana's separation of powers, refusing several orders from the executive branch in order to demonstrate the independence of parliament. These actions brought her into conflict with President Ian Khama, as did a portion of her autobiography (published while in office) which criticised his leadership style. In April 2014, Khama considered attempting to have Nasha removed from the speakership through a no-confidence motion, but was talked out of it by his advisors, who said he would likely be unsuccessful.

In November 2014, following the 2014 general election, the BDP refused to re-nominate Nasha as speaker and instead nominated Gladys Kokorwe (President Khama's preferred candidate). Nasha was re-nominated by the opposition, but was defeated by Kokorwe by a 41–21 margin. Nasha was also a BDP member, but had fallen out with President Khama. Before the speakership election occurred, there had been a dispute over whether the vote should be taken by voice (the government's preference) or by secret ballot (Nasha's preference). The attorney-general, representing the government, argued that Nasha had ceased to become speaker on the day of the election and thus no longer had a say over parliamentary procedure, but a court ruling rejected this argument.

In January 2016, Nasha resigned from the BDP to join the opposition Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), which forms part of a broader alliance, the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC).