Mbalula boasts about having 1 million Twitter followers

Police Minister Fikile Mbalula appears to be on cloud nine after becoming the first cabinet member to reach a million followers on Twitter.

He appeared to be sitting on the edge of his seat on Saturday, waiting to reach the magic number, and tweeted a pic of himself on the verge of glory. He said it was “spooky” to have so many followers.

https://twitter.com/MbalulaFikile/status/911691610848677888

When he hit the million mark, a stream of self-congratulatory tweets followed.

https://twitter.com/MbalulaFikile/status/911708068320305152

https://twitter.com/MbalulaFikile/status/911708339867877383

He said he would follow 5000 people back as a thank you, and he appeared to call it a day when he’d reached 600.

https://twitter.com/MbalulaFikile/status/911709881962557441

https://twitter.com/MbalulaFikile/status/911713342690959360

He was still revelling in the feeling of being a “million-follower man” on Sunday morning.

https://twitter.com/MbalulaFikile/status/911826429352054784

He’s clearly feeling like a king.

https://twitter.com/MbalulaFikile/status/911629579592372225

He is, however, not the first South African politician to reach a million. EFF leader Julius Malema has 1.55 million followers and former DA leader Helen Zille has 1.2 million.

Mbalula has often been criticised for taking social media far more seriously than politics itself, but he views social media as a vital way of connecting with his constituency. Since becoming police minister, many of his tweets have focused on the fight against crime.

Take a look at the minister’s current follower figure below:

.