The Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ms Nomaindiya Mfeketo, has on Tuesday, 22 April 2015, received credentials from Ms Zhuldyz Akisheva, the newly-appointed Regional Representative for Southern Africa’s United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Deputy Minister Mfeketo was joined by Deputy Minister of Correctional Services, Mr Thabang Makwetla, and Deputy Minister of Health,  Dr Joe Phaahla.

Ms Akisheva succeeds Mr Mandiyaye Niang (a national of Senegal) who, in September 2013, was appointed as permanent judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

The UNODC-ROSA (Regional Office for Southern Africa) was formed in 1997 and covers 11 countries in the region, namely; Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The mandate and functions of the UNODC-ROSA include, among others, addressing issues related to international drugs, the combatting of transnational organised crime, as well as international terrorism. Although the UNODC receives its funding from the regular budget of the United Nations, the sheer scale of its mandate and operational activities are such that most of its funding comes from extra-budgetary resources provided in the main, by the donor community.

Ms Akisheva previously held a number of key positions within the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, including Head of the UNODC Programme Office in Kyrgyzstan and Deputy Regional Representative at the UNODC Regional Office for Central Asia. She served at the Mission of  Kazakhstan to the United Nations in New York and other diplomatic missions. A national of Kazakhstan, Ms Akisheva holds a Master’s Degree and PhD in Law.

 

Issued by The Department of International Relations Cooperation