EDITORIAL: Snooty Sisulu meets her match

Singabakho Nxumalo advertises himself as a “qualified and diligent communication professional”. For once that is not spin from someone who deals in the commodity.

Nxumalo is an old hand in public relations, a profession which doesn’t often get a good press. People in that field are meant to massage the message from their bosses and keep the nosy fourth estate off the scent of a good story.

The correctional services spokesperson has also been in the business long enough to identify bovine manure. Last week he sniffed it out, then snuffed it out. That the ordure had been uttered by no less a person than a cabinet minister, even one with pretensions and a haughty sense of entitlement such as Lindiwe Sisulu, did not faze Nxumalo.

The tourism minister had gone to see a crook in prison, then stamped her designer shoe-clad foot when she was denied entry. She was told patiently she would get no special permission outside visiting hours. Surely such restrictions were meant for the little people, she implied afterwards.

That was when Nxumalo stepped up, and in a measured and dignified manner explained that, no, they were meant for everyone. We need more public servants like him.