Do you guys remember when a traffic official tried to get bribe out of me? I do. And I also wrote all about it here. To make a long story short, I got tired of being asked for bribes, bought a dashcam, and then was asked for another bribe. That kind of thing is, unfortunately, quite normal in South Africa. Since then, a kind lawyer and his firm have taken the case and have been continually escalating a formal complaint, […]
corruption
Another Day, Another Bribe Solicitation…
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 […]
Car Rental Fun in South Africa
*Edit- I originally didn’t name Thrifty Car Hire when I posted this because I thought it was a once off bad experience. But I had another terrible experience with them (which I’ll be writing about shortly), so screw it. Turns out they have an ongoing pattern of hilariously bad service. It was Thrifty. Whatever other bad decisions you make in your life, don’t use Thrifty Car Hire in South Africa. You’re welcome for saving you a boatload of heartache. Have […]
How to Fall Out of Love With South Africa in 30 Minutes Flat
Listen, South Africa, my love affair with you is over. I was once smitten. Head over heels. Infatuated. I tried to look past all your warts, but I mean, you REALLY seem intent on being a bad date. So how exactly did I fall out of love with the country that’s shown me wild elephants and the almighty braai? Well, let me tell you… A few weeks ago, our good friends (the Germans) asked us if we wanted to take a road […]
Update: 66.6% of South African Traffic Police are Corrupt
A few months ago, I made the bold claim that 100% of the traffic police here are corrupt. Based on my personal experiences at the time, that was the honest truth. To be fair though, I thought I should post an update, lest you get the impression honesty is hard to come by in South Africa. I’m pleased to report that while I was stopped two more times since then, I only encountered one more corrupt police officer, bringing my average to […]
100% of the Traffic Police Here are Corrupt…
…at least according to the 1 interaction I’ve had. So I guess to make broad statements based on such a limited sample size is unfair. According to most accounts, both online and from local South Africans, the number is no higher than 98.7%. I’ll get into the traffic here in an upcoming post, but that’s a topic all on its own. Picture a high-school play. All the actors are terrible and the play itself seems to have been created when […]