The bodyguards even looked better than him
During an unannounced visit to the Madelakufa squatter camp, in Tembisa, Ekurhuleni, Zuma decided to visit the local police station after complaints from residents.
Zuma found the station commander, George Manganye, was absent. He waited with his aides - Charles Nqakula, Jessie Duarte and Zizi Kodwa - while the local police chief's personal assistant phoned to tell him that the president wanted to see him.
When Manganye got to the police station and tried to enter his office, he was kicked out by Zuma's bodyguards, who mistook him for a civilian.
Manganye was allowed in when police officials said he was the man in charge.
Zuma, Nqakula and Kodwa looked shocked when introduced to the police boss, clad in civilian clothes during working hours.
"Are you really the person we are waiting for?" asked Nqakula several times.
When journalists later asked Zuma what he thought of Manganye's conduct, he tried to play down the matter.
"Yes, we waited for him and when he came, I welcomed him to his office ... I am not sure what the rules are when it comes to the [police dress code]," Zuma said.
But some of those accompanying him told The Times that he was not impressed by Manganye.
Kodwa said the station commander displayed "the highest form of disrespect" to Zuma and that his conscience should tell him that he was wrong to have kept the president waiting.
"There is nothing to show that [he is] a commissioner. The bodyguards even looked better than him," said Kodwa.
"The national commissioner, Bheki Cele, had to give up his Italian suits so that he could distinguish himself from ordinary civilians and so should station commissioners.
"This was just too much disrespect and it shows that he undermines his job. He won't even be able to inspire confidence in his force if he continues to behave in this manner," Kodwa said.
Manganye's reputation had been tainted by Madelakufa residents who told Zuma they could not walk freely at night because of rampant crime. They accused the local police of refusing to patrol the area.
"We do not live normal lives here because, by 7pm, we have to be behind closed doors because we get robbed. We can't even visit our neighbours," said Zola Msimang.
Other residents told the president that the police refused to enter the settlement to make arrests, saying it was too dangerous.
Zuma was alarmed when he was shown a communal tap that delivered water contaminated by waste leaking from a burst pipe.
"We are getting sick because the water that we drink is dirty," said Lucy Shingange. "We have been to the municipal offices several times since January last year and no one has come to fix it," she said.
Morongwa Moile told Zuma that "rats the size of kittens" were a danger to children.
"As you can see, there is rubbish everywhere and the rats will never go away."
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