The new Northern Cape premier, Dr. Zamani Saul took social media by storm. He made a promise to cut splashing on his provincial executives’ cars and buy the Northen Cape Health Department 63 ambulances. On Tuesday the 4th of June, he made good on his promise and delivered 23 new ambulances; the first batch of 63.
The new premier laid the groundwork by giving his inaugural speech in the Lerato Park informal settlement. He also tweeted a picture of him and members of the executives council which was accompanied by text:
“No pictures of me or any of the MECs will be mounted on walls of government departments in the Northern Cape province. Our task is to serve and not be glorified. Congrats to the newly appointed members of the executives council. I have full confidence in your capabilities.”
The African National Congress Northen Cape summarized his achievements of one week in a tweet and they are as follows:
- Inaugural address in an informal settlement
- Sell the premiers official residence and allocate the proceeds the Premiers Bursary Fund
- No blue lights for the premier and the MECs
- No new cars: all funds allocated for new cars for the Premier and MECs will be allocated to the Department of Health to buy ambulances
- Fewer MECs appointed
- No mounting of photos of Premier and MECs in Government Departments and institutions.
News24 reported Saul having said that “Leadership is not royalty, our responsibility is to serve. People disengage because of the social distance and servant leadership is very conscious of this.”
The premier also tweeted that he had engaged with the youth in Galeshwe, Kimberly where he found that youth unemployment is a ticking time bomb that needed to be attended to.
South African residents are impressed with his leadership style thus far. One of the many tweets that commended his actions so far read: “Dr. Zamani Saul represents the type of leadership which we desperately need as a country. The challenge is, many of those who are elected care more about “eating”, than doing what is needed to take the country forward.” By Fazlin Fransman.
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