The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) elected Mathu Joyini (South Africa) Chair on 1 June. (See Press Release GA/12504.)

Prior to her appointment in 2021 as Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ms. Joyini served as Deputy Director-General of her country’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation and Head of its Diplomatic Academy and Policy Research and Development Unit, since 2016.  Previously, she was Permanent Representative to the International Seabed Authority from 2010 to 2015.

Among other diplomatic assignments, Ms. Joyini served as High Commissioner and Ambassador to six countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, from 2010 to 2015. She was the International Relations Department’s Deputy Director-General for Human Resources from 2008 to 2010.  Before joining the Government in 2001, she held senior private sector positions in mining, finance, petroleum and consulting, among other fields.

Ms. Joyini holds master’s degrees in social work from the University of Pennsylvania in the United States and in business administration from Wits Business School in South Africa, where she also earned a bachelor’s degree.

She was born in 1968.