Wait! Why is my face not on the wall?

FACE-OFF: Maggie Sotyu, with David Mahlobo in tow, discovers her portrait is not on display BROKEN furniture, cracked walls, no electricity and peeling paint may be problematic, but woe betide a police station that doesn’t have a picture of Deputy Police Minister Maggie Sotyu on its walls.

Just ask Umkhanyakude cluster commander Brigadier Ntombizodwa Khumalo, who got a tongue-lashing from Sotyu. Khumalo is in charge of Manguzi police station and 10 other rural stations near the Mozambique border in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

Sotyu was one of the officials in President Jacob Zuma’s delegation who paid a visit to Manguzi on Tuesday as part of the government’s intensified campaign against crossborder crime.

She was incensed that the station did not have her official portrait alongside those of Zuma, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, KwaZulu-Natal premier Willies Mchunu, Police Minister Nathi Nhleko and provincial community safety and liaison MEC Mxolisi Kaunda.

“Why is there not a picture of the deputy minister on the wall? You have the president and his deputy, and the minister — but no deputy.

“Is it because Minister Nhleko comes from here?” she asked.

Sotyu, who was accompanied by State Security Minister David Mahlobo and Communications Minister Faith Muthambi, continued her outburst outside, directing her ire at Khumalo.

She demanded to know why her official portrait was not on the wall. She accused Khumalo of breaking the law by not having the picture.

“You knew we were coming and you knew the president was coming. What kind of a police station is this?”

This prompted one policeman to ask his colleagues in hushed tones who the deputy minister was — to which his colleagues shrugged. But what does protocol dictate? A protocol officer at a provincial de-

You knew we were coming . . . What kind of a police station is this?

partment who is familiar with how the faces of government policy is handled, confirmed that there was no provision for deputy ministers’ portraits to be displayed at state buildings.

The Government Communication and Information Service supplied the portraits and the respective departments printed and framed them as they saw fit.

Nomsa Hani, the head of Sotyu’s office, said on Friday that Sotyu was not bothered by the issue.

Hani said the deputy police minister would meet top management this week to discuss the station, “but the issue of the pictures does not form part of that. It’s a nonissue.”

Zuma addressed the community later and remarked about the dire conditions at the station.