If you’ve lived in South Africa for any length of time, you’ll know that the South African Traffic Police have a less than stellar reputation. It’s not that they’re ALL corrupt, it’s just that the many thousand dishonest ones give the two or three honest officers a bad name. I’ve written about them before, but I’ve also had a couple of run ins I didn’t bother to write about. The corruption here would fill a blog all by itself, and I want to have at least a LITTLE bit of variety here.
Every time I got pulled over and asked for a bribe, I’d kick myself for not having a dashcam. So I bought one specifically to catch corrupt traffic police. And they didn’t let me down.
Let me clarify something first here though. I drive a LOT. Like, about 11-12 thousand km every month. The South African Traffic Police like to set up roadblocks where they check people at random. Most of the time, I’ve done nothing wrong, but when they hear my accent, they decide to try their luck with getting a bribe.
I’ve been here almost three years and have never paid a bribe, nor will I ever. But their usual MO is to keep me at the side of the road for the better part of an hour in hopes I’ll break down.
Anyway, a couple of days ago, I WAS speeding. I didn’t think I was. I was travelling through Delareyville in the North West Province, and I saw where the speed limit changed to 80km/hr, but not to 60km/hr.
In any event, I was clocked at 77km/hr and pulled over.
Everything started fine. I found out that I was in a 60 zone, admitted my guilt, and waited for the ticket.
Instead, the first traffic officer disappeared with my license, and shortly after, a second officer came up to my window. She said I needed to pay a “spot fine.” While a spot fine CAN mean a ticket issued on the spot, in South Africa, it’s well-known slang for a bribe. In any event, I LIVE in South Africa. I have 30 days to pay or dispute any tickets I get. I tried to tell the officer that, but pocket money is more important than procedure in South Africa.
I told her I needed a ticket, and she told me it would be R600 and asked “is that fine?” In between the lines, her unspoken proposition was “R600 is a lot of money. Wouldn’t you rather just pay me something smaller to make this go away? “
I told her to just write the ticket, and she walked away, probably cursing me under her breath for not paying for her lunch that day.
After several minutes the first officer came up and asked “So what did you decide to do?”
Huh?
What did I decide to do? There shouldn’t be a decision. I was speeding. I get a speeding ticket. That’s how it works.
It was obvious the 2 of them were trying to figure out how best to extract money from me.
At that point, I had had enough and explained that I had them on my dashcam asking for a bribe.
And also at that point, I realised why I spent so much time in school in detention. I just can’t seem to keep my stupid mouth shut.
Anyway, to make a long story short, they called their supervisor from the station, who told me I wasn’t allowed to make a complaint through the anti-corruption hotline, and that I needed to give HIM the video to review and I needed to wait at the police station while he did an investigation.
I had 2 friends and my son in the vehicle, and the thought of keeping everyone waiting for several hours while the supervisor completed his investigation by “accidentally” deleting the video didn’t really appeal to me. And the whole time, one of the original officers was saying I needed to delete the video before I left.
I then shifted gears and pretended it was all a misunderstanding and made fun of myself for not knowing that a spot fine was completely legitimate. Everyone seemed to relax, and the supervisor said I needed to follow him to the station to pay the fine right away (this wasn’t legal for him to do, but whatever), and I agreed so I could get out of there.
On the way to the station, I removed the memory card and gave it to my friend to hide (I have no idea in which orifice he may have stashed it, nor do I want to know). My plan was to claim there was no card in the camera and that I was bluffing earlier. But it turns out there was no need.
I paid my fine of R200 (not the R600 the officer claimed I would have to pay when she was looking for her bribe), and off I went.
I called the Anti Corruption Hotline, and they told me I needed to call the National Traffic Call Centre to report corrupt traffic officials. So I tried calling that number. DOZENS of times over the next couple of days. Nobody seems to answer that line, and there was no option to leave a message.
So I posted the video on YouTube. You can see it here:
Two days later, I got a call from the supervisor again, saying he had seen the video. He said he reviewed it and the officers did nothing wrong. Because of that, they were going to sue me for defamation of character.
Great. The intimidation phase had already begun. What he didn’t know is that a lawyer had seen the video on YouTube and contacted me with the offer to help me lodge an official complaint and act on my behalf. His only payment would be the sheer joy of bringing down a couple of corrupt traffic police.
And since then, a couple of major media outlets have contacted me, and they will be running the story as soon as the official complaint has been lodged by the kind-hearted lawyer, who tells me it should be by the end of today.
It seems this story is far from over. Which is great, because South Africa keeps giving me stuff to write about. Now if only I could find those same officers to thank them for the entertainment…
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Good for you for doing the dashcam idea – the corruption in SA is horrendous, cannot wait to hear how it all pans out.
Oh man. I have a feeling it’s long from over. If I disappear mysteriously, everyone will know why!
So a Canadian poked a bear, in Africa…
Sounds like the start of a joke ;P
Haha! Let’s just hope the bear’s bite isn’t as bad as its roar…
Well done for not knuckling under to pressure ! It’s extremely frustrating to have to deal with these thieves on a daily basis , I don’t miss it in the least . I live in your mother land now , God Bless America !
I do hope it will slowly change as more and more people refuse to tolerate the corruption!
You’re Canadian ! Sorry hon , I forgot 😊
Close enough. We’re just the shinier, more pretty America up north.
Brilliant. I am so sick and tired of criminals who are in the traffic police and the SAPS. Time that they be exposed.
Unfortunately the rot runs deep in anything state run here. I have hopes that there are enough honest people who are sick of it and will guide change!
Well done! Please keep us posted! Would love to follow this story. Well done as well for setting a great example for your son for doing what is right no matter the obstacle!
I’m pretty sure there will be a couple updates coming…I mean, as long as I don’t suddenly mysteriously disappear…at least we’ll know who did it!
Thanks for posting this and doing your part to end corruption in SA. Phil for head of SAPS.
Haha! Definitely a job I wouldn’t want!
If this happened in downtown Johannesburg at midnight with nobody but the traffic police in sight, I’d say pay the bucks and get the hell out of there. You know, just sometimes prudence is the better part of valour. Too many folk I know have gone this route. They were pretty shaken, but bodily in tact. I now live in Calgary – NOTHING ever happens here!!
Sometimes boring is good!
Haha! You’re right (of course). However, and it is a BIG HOWEVER, when I read your blog I get positively homesick -the papers blowing in the wind, the taxis, the dust in winter. In Afrikaans they’d say “ek verlang” – and me, an all English girl! Toe maar, I’m going to become a bona fide Canadian next Thursday 29th. I’ll take the Oath, sing the National Anthem and, if needs be, eat a Maple leaf. Love your blog- brings back memories and makes me laugh!! Not bad for a Thursday.
Haha- maybe if you braai the leaf it’ll taste better..
I truly love both countries. I wish we could somehow mash them together!
The day I hear South Africans say “You’re welcome” 20x in any given day, the sun will fall.out of the sky! But, a great sentiment nonetheless. Do you think the folks downtown Calgary will mind if I rub 2 sticks together to get the braai going- for the Maple leaf?
Well handled. I am a firm fan of standing up to something that has become common place simply because those who pay the spot fine are equally corrupt. As they say, the love of money is the roof of all evil. Anyways, the God Bless America comment made my day, as much as Canadians get called America, we sometimes get called Australian when travelling, which is way harder to figure! (By Americans none the less)
People here always think I’m from Australia or Ireland for some reason. They’re not so good with accents here….
Wow! Luckily never really experienced this (had friends who did) but I did leave almost 20 years ago. Thanks for recording this, will be waiting for updates.
I was in Zimbabwe a few times and even in a safari vehicle, we seemed to get stopped every 100 km. or so for “safety” inspections. Same thing, pay a fine immediately for an improper light or whatever, and you can be on your way. Got to admit, it turned me off of going back to Zim for any future safaris.
Yes, unfortunately, this kind of thing has a negative impact on tourism. I’ll admit, my post about it doesn’t help, but this kind of thing needs to stop.
Correction, I meant a few years ago, not a few times.
As a temp resident foreigner driving in SA on a UK licence, the ‘discussions’ I have experience with traffic police over the legality of me using the UK licence are endless. I now keep copies of my passport, work permit and Road Transport Act in the car. Last time I was pulled over, they refused to listen, and gave my South African wife (a passenger in the car) a ticket for operating the vehicle in an unsafe manner. I also recorded the entire drama.
It’s really unfortunate. I keep a laminated copy of the traffic act in my car with the parts pertaining to foreign drivers licenses highlighted so I can show the police, because the vast majority of them don’t understand their own laws.
They don’t pay traffic police enough to attract competent people, and the people they get don’t get the training they need. It’s hard to blame the individuals for the failing of the bigger system.
Haha. Maybe better than in Canada.. cheap fines, can be solved on the spot, no demerit points. Sometimes I like corruption!
Well, it’s definitely cheaper..
Haha. Maybe better than in Canada.. cheap fines, can be solved on the spot, no demerit points.. I think I might have paid the C$60 and got on with it.
Wow – I thought I had the monopoly on good traffic cop stories (I think I have a dozen on my blog) but a dash cam never occurred to me. Any new developments there?
Man, it’s a gong show. It’s still ongoing, and it’s been escalated to scarily high levels. To be continued…
And ya, I’m still so mad at myself for not having it before, because I had a couple of waaaaay more blatent traffic police asking for bribes.
And to this day a carry a laminated copy of the traffic act with me because of your blog!
carry R100’s and only pay R100.
Please send this clip to media 24. They handle all the newspapers
I did. I talked to one reporter who wanted to run with it, but was working on other things. He passed it to another reporter, but she wasn’t interested in doing anything with it.
This country is corrupt,I don’t know who to trust anymore.
Every gov facility has its own corrupt people.
I think the simple rule is: government run in South Africa=corrupt. And unfortunately, Ramaphosa so far has said a bunch of great things, but has made no efforts to eliminate the corruption. I had such high hopes for him.
Keep us posted
Plz
I’m sure there will be more posts to follow!
Keep us posted please.
Will do! I’m sure the I haven’t heard the end of it yet. I fully expect the threats to escalate now that this whole thing has gone viral.
Ive what’s going for for 5 years a claim re corruption.
I have it all on video too, Ive sent to the Deloitte (auditors) who are supposed to turn it around within x weeks/months but after fighting for a year and fear of a roadblock as it was my wife’s car, I paid it much to my disgust.
I was in the wrong and happy to pay it, but only after the formal investigation into the bribery
I too had calls from the officers informing me that they know where I live etc.
The intimidation was relentless that eventually I stopped following up on the anti corruption team
Yes, sounds familiar. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any sort of appetite from the people in charge to curb corruption. I have hopes that one day it will get better though!
Let’s hope that this doesn’t take YEARS to be resolved…like everything else
I have a feeling it will never be resolved. If the people at the top are corrupt, it’s difficult to hold officers accountable.