Angela Zingelwako, a learner from Bosmansdam High School, was recently made the junior provincial police commissioner after making a good impression on the senior police management.
The 16-year-old says she always dreams big and one day wants to be in a leadership position.
WO Jacques Mostert of the Bothasig police station visited her school looking for someone who is good at public speaking and who would be interested in the junior police commissioner project when Angela decided to throw her name in the hat.
She was advised to compete in a mini debate with different topics and was elected to be junior station commander at the Bothasig police station at first. “I was very happy,” she told TygerBurger during a sit-down interview last week.
After that they went on to the cluster level, she explains.
“I also succesfully won that and was elected to be the junior cluster commander for the Tygerberg district.”
Soon after that they went on to the provincial level where she was also successfully elected to the position of junior provincial police commissioner. “I believe it is my confidence,” she says when asked why she feels she was elected.
Her loundess and the way she projects her voice and her eye contact with people, are some of the other traits why she believes she was successful. Angela says these characteristics all come naturally. “It is a God given talent and I am grateful for it, it has taken me places, she says.
She is also a top learner when it comes to presentations, she says.
Eyes set on national commissioner
Asked about maybe becoming junior national police commissioner, she said: “I feel intimidated. It is going to be quite a big position to take, because it is a national position. Overall I feel excited and feel ready for the work that I am going to be given, the things that I will be given and the people I will meet. I feel ready to work with my junior provincial commissioners.”
Some of the current responsibilities she has to take part in include speaking at schools, encouraging learners.
“The police was very clever at creating this project. They knew that teenagers will not listen to them as they would listen to us, since we are in the same age group.
“I would say that we promote positve peer pressure,” she says.
Angela says her responsibilities do not have too huge an impact on her everyday life.
“The police try as much as possible to take me during the holidays and when I am availaible.”
Future plans
She says she hopes to one day become president of South Africa.
“They need people like me out there. I think the project is playing a big role in trying to get me ready for being president,” she says smiling.
She also has a good support system in her schcool, family, friends and the police.
Mostert says the police always try to put her school work first. “That is a priority for us.”
Gert van Tonder, school principal, was also praised for his support.
“She is a very humble person and is very professional – this young lady has a ball of fire inside her and has passion,” Van Tonder says.
