Bheki Cele, the conceited and overbearing minister of police who has - like a small-town gangster - made the wearing of a hat a singular part of his trademark, has probably the wrong type of headgear on.
He should be wearing a homburg, much beloved by apartheid ideologues. He often sounds like the likes of Magnus Malan. One can almost imagine him licking his lips and wagging that finger like PW Botha used to do.
And judging by what comes out of his mouth, there doesn't seem to be much under that hat either.
This week at a ministerial briefing on the lockdown, Cele was in his element as he elaborated on how the police would go about enforcing the curfew. He was feeling his oats.
Earlier in the day, health minister Zweli Mkhize, who's been leading the public campaign against the coronavirus, had, in answer to a question, said people were free to go for a walk or a run and walk their dogs during the lockdown as long as they walked alone or kept a safe distance from each other.
Mkhize's comments were welcomed by those who had anticipated weeks of inaction with some apprehension, especially as gyms are also closed. The relief was short-lived, however. By the afternoon when the briefing was held, the situation had changed. It was left to Cele to relay the bad news. Walking and running during the lockdown were out, he said.
It is significant that it was Cele who made the announcement: the securocrats had overruled the experts.
Although one can understand the logic behind banning walking and running, that should be the least of people's concerns when it comes to spreading the disease.
There's more likelihood of people catching the virus when mingling in shops where they'll have to go to buy food than when walking or running alone or with members of their families. Come to think of it, even prisoners are allowed some form of exercise every day.
In fact many of the countries that have enforced some form of lockdown thus far have emphasised the need to keep fit and exercise all the time. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made exactly that point when he announced the UK's lockdown on Monday. There's also research that seems to suggest that people who are obese and unfit are more likely to catch the virus.
But there's a mistaken belief that running or jogging is an elitist preoccupation or indulgence. It isn't, and it shouldn't be. It's an activity that everybody should be encouraged to take part in. If the government were to make sure that a gym or a fitness centre was built in every village and township, many preventable diseases would be dealt with before they could clog the country's health facilities.
Maybe the government believes that allowing people to go for a walk would be the thin end of the wedge; that if you give people a finger they will demand the whole arm.
But it should also be realised that one is dealing with adults and that in a democracy it is always advisable to take people along with you, to get their buy-in. One cannot just ram things down their throats.
You have to make a very convincing case if you're going to limit people's rights. Which is what President Cyril Ramaphosa seems to have successfully done. But unfortunately that sort of approach does not seem to have percolated to some of his ministers.
Cele got quite animated and contemptuous when it came to the idea of people walking their dogs. "There shall be no dogs that will be walked," he barked. "You can walk your dog around your house."
It is not so much what he said that is troubling, it is how he said it. His tone was contemptuous and dismissive. Shape up or ship out: that is the language of an autocrat. He seemed to relish the undemocratic environment that has inadvertently presented itself. That should not be the attitude of a government official in a democratic society.
The role that dogs have played in society is an unexplored subject. There's a belief among many black people that whites have for years treated their dogs better than they have treated their domestic workers.
Which is why the idea of walking one's dog in the middle of a national crisis sticks in some people's craw.
But there are many black people who now partake in this pastime, as it were. In fact not so long ago Jacob Zuma got a lot of push-back when he mocked black men who walked their dogs. And elected leaders need to learn to treat people's concerns with some respect, no matter how small or trivial they may appear to be.
Cele's jackboot approach could likely have set back the good work Ramaphosa has done in creating a national consensus over the lockdown. And the president clearly had his police minister in mind when, in sending the police and soldiers out to man the barricades on Thursday night, he warned against adopting a skop, skiet en donder approach.
We're used to minions cleaning up after the boss. Underlings, on the other hand, get fired if they make a hash if things. One wishes Ramaphosa had the courage to give Cele the boot. But that won't happen. It's complicated, as they say.
The country is entering an extraordinarily difficult period and people do understand that, in the all-out campaign to defeat the virus, some of their rights will have to be curtailed or compromised. It is therefore important that such measures are undertaken with care and understanding by those in government.
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