Sam Matekane

Born on March 15, 1958, Matekane is the seventh of fourteen siblings.[5] He was born in the very remote village of Mantšonyane in what was then called British Basutoland, now Lesotho.[6]

Matekane attended primary school and completed Form C (Year 10).[7] For a short time, he became a heard boy and then moved to Maseru with distant relatives for studies. After completing Form C, he was sent to apprentice as a mechanic in South Africa. Upon the completion of his apprenticeship, he worked in the South African Mines. His stint in the mines was short and he returned to Maseru in his early 20s, where he began working as a salesman of wool and mohair, along with other goods until forming his company.

Matekane is the founder and CEO of the Matekane Group of Companies (MGC), which was established in 1986 as a construction equipment sales business.[8] The business initially purchased old and damaged vehicles from the government, to repair and resell it back to the government. This was a unique arrangement that allowed Matekane to put his mechanic skills into good use. His company grew steadily, and expanded to the areas of mining, aviation, real estate and philanthropy.

His philanthropic work has led to the donation of uniforms to the police, donation of ambulances, building a state-of-the art school in his home district, and most recently the creation of cost share farm with local villagers.

In March 2022, several months before the 2022 Lesotho general election, Matekane founded a party called Revolution for Prosperity (RFP).[9] He positioned himself as the protector of the country's business community, the messianic leader that would bring stability to Lesotho politics, and the sole businessmen in the country that could end corruption and bring Lesotho back from the recession it has been experiencing since 2017. Matekane has made a declaration to "Make Lesotho Great Again" by any means necessary.

Politicians and businessmen across the South Africa Region have been impressed by his meteoric rise in politics. Matekane's campaign was a sharp public relations campaign never before seeing in the country. His campaign victory was paved by outspending his rivals and by making case for why career politicians were no longer serving Lesotho's best interests. He was considered an outsider while campaigning and that status helped win the popular vote.[10] Matekane's RFP party finished five seats shy of an absolute majority in the National Assembly. Short of a simple majority to rule alone, Matekane formed a coalition government with two parties with less than 3 seats each in the assembly, the Alliance of Democrats and Movement for Economic Change.[11]

After his electoral win, Matekane has vowed to hit the ground running. He outline a 20-point plan to fight corruption and the M6.1billion Government Deficit, within the first 100 days in office.[12] He plans to reverse the economic recession via austerity and job creation from international investors, and achieve what can be normally be achieve in 20 years in his first term in office.[13]