Professor Matlosa is a former Senior Lecturer, National University of Lesotho (1990-2000); Director for Research and Training, Southern African Regional Institute for Policy Research (SARIPS), Harare, Zimbabwe (2000-2003); Director of Programmes; Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA), Johannesburg, South Africa (2003-2010); Senior Governance Advisor at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2010-2013); Director, Department of Political Affairs, African Union Commission (AUC), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (2013-2021). He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) based in South Africa.
He has researched widely in various social science fields including migration, elections, democracy, political parties, governance, peace and security, foreign aid, regional integration, and socio-economic development. He is the author of the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance which evolved between 2004 and 2006. This Charter was ultimately adopted by the African Union (AU) Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 30 January 2007. It came into force in 2012 following its ratification by 15 Member States of the AU.
Together with three other African experts, he co-authored the report on ‘Prevention, Management and Resolution of Election-Related Disputes in Africa: The Role of the African Union Panel of the Wise’, which was adopted by the AU Assembly of the Heads of State and Government in Kampala, Uganda in 2010 for use in all the AU’s preventive diplomacy efforts led by the Panel of the Wise as one of the five pillars of the African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) since then to date. In 2021, he was commissioned as one of the 10 African experts to prepare a strategic reflection report for UNDP entitled “Re-Imagining Governance and Peacebuilding in Africa” which contributed to the development of UNDP’s Strategic Plan, 2023-2025.