Northern Cape Premier Dr Zamani Saul is tasked with appointing heads of department in the province. (@NorthernCapeGov/X, formerly Twitter) The Northern Cape health department has had several heads of department in the last five years. The department head, which has oversight of enormous budgets and responsible for good governance of its financial resources, is appointed by the premier of a province.
The constant change of heads in the Northern Cape health department has fuelled speculation of political power struggles and criticism of misusing public funds. The Northern Cape Department of Health has seen a fast-revolving door of heads of department (HODs) in the last five years, with one person being at the helm for a mere two months. This is because the two people to hold the powerful post permanently are dogged by claims of alleged financial transgressions and corruption.
The health HOD position is one of the most multiplex jobs in provincial government with oversight of what is typically one of the two largest lines of provincial budgets. At R20 billion over the next three years , the health department got a massive slice of the Northern Cape's R68.1-billion budget for the period.
By contrast, over the same period, R6 billion was allocated to the Department of Roads and Public Works, R3.1 billion to the Department of Social Development, R1.3 billion to the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, and R1.
1 billion to the Provincial Treasury. Financial management While the nat.