Three months ago after having a lovely meal with a fellow banana (Chinese/Yellow on the outside and white on the inside) friend Miss J and our black friend Mr. K while driving to our next location we were stopped by a police check point and were immediately asked to show our passports. I was at first perplexed by the request since Mr. K was the one driving. When Miss J and I presented our SOUTH AFRICAN drivers licenses he once again asked for our passports – now raising his voice and speaking slower. With raised eyebrows we told him that we don't have our passports because we are all South African citizens. He looked at us intently and repeated the words “You are South African?” and I replied (now irritated) “Yes! Can't you tell from our accents?” Before we could really object he took the backpack from Miss J's hands and went through it and naturally didn't find anything objectionable.
"He looked so BLEAK!" quoting Miss J when he couldn't find anything wrong with us. Getting in the car Mr. K told us that the police officer asked him in Zulu if he was running some kind of illegal taxi service, though he wasn't sure because his Zulu has always been limited – but apparently the officer didn't want to hear any of that and kept speaking to him in Zulu.
Driving away the three of us laughed the whole way, Miss J described him as such a big jerk that it was actually funny, he showed such unadulterated disappointed when he could find nothing wrong with us - depressed even. I understand that we were within 2km of about 3 different Chinese supermarkets and I have been told by my boss that there always tons of police check points around and they always pull over trucks with Chinese drivers and try to extort bribes from them (naturally he failed to mentioned the often counterfeit and smuggled goods). My hypothesis was that he saw two Chinese in the car and thought "cash-cow" on seeing Katlego he immediately thought "Aw! Illegal taxi-service." I also found out later that it was illegal for him to go through Miss J's bags like that. But the punch line of the whole rather comical-like incident was that the three of us were going to the apartheid museum. Nothing like a life re-enactment of apartheid-like thinking to put you into perspective. I have written this off as racial profiling, because unfortunately the Chinese community at large has a (well deserved) reputation for bribing people at the first sign of trouble.
But now, three months later and after having been pulled over no less than seven times after that incident I no longer found this incident amusing. In all but three of these occasions were the police officer seemingly honest. I have pulled over twice on Rivonia road on the weekend, on one occasion had the breath test and the officer without showing me the results kept saying how this was wrong. After practically grabbing the tester from his hands it showed 0.01mg – even without knowing what the limit was I knew that it means the alcohol was barely detectable (afterwards I found out it was 0.24mg). The other time occasion while with another friend (incidentally Jewish and wearing a yarmulke), the officer declared that my drivers was invalid and I started to laugh, incredulously asking in what POSSIBLE way can it be invalid – he immediately recanted. I've been pulled over by officers claiming that I was speeding, when I asked if he was sure he said he got me on camera, but since he was such a nice guy he would let me go for only R300. When I pressed him for a ticket he told me to go. I was pulled over once for a legitimate reason to which I was perfectly prepared to pay the fine – the officer told me that I can make it go away by buying him a “drink.” when I explained I don't have my drivers with me because I left my wallet at home he made me open my boot and cubby hold till his is satisfied that I don't have ANY money and he just let me go. Guess he didn't want to bother with the paperwork.
Now, I could just be the most unlucky person when it comes to being pulled over. But I've travelled fairly extensively and I know what I see here in South Africa – corruption on a new level. I'm not naïve enough to think that bribes weren't happening in the SAPS and Metropolice in the past. But these new events disturb me greatly, it was one thing to have officers asking for a bribe when they found minor offences (not having a license, jumping a robot, speeding etc.) but to actually employ scare tactics and make up irregularities is on another level altogether. The only other place that I have had such experiences in the past was in the DRC! The DRC particularly the copper rich Katanga area was invaded by a sudden rush of Chinese prospectors a few years back that was comparable with the gold/diamond rush. The Chinese there established such a horrored reputation for bribing that I couldn't get through immigration at the airport without spending US$15 in total bribes to four different groups (health officials, customs, security, immigrations) to make sure that they hold me there forever – even though I have all the legitimate documents.
Now my conclusion to all of this is based completely on anecdotal evidence, because while in DRC I spoke with many of the local white population and they tell me that they almost never have to pay bribes/grease to get through customs and immigrations. Here in South Africa speaking with the more recently immigrated Chinese members I found that like myself they tend to be targeted more often by the police – they are also very quick to hand over big bribes depending on the situation. Their command of the English language is limited and therefore it's easy to intimidate them.
In short, the Chinese community in South Africa, in particular those in Johannesburg has started to bring this culture here and put itself into a predicament. To be fair we as a group must play in the mess we created. I implore all SABC (South African Born Chinese) and banana's like myself to make a stand and stop this stupid trend, I only include this crowd because I don't think the newcomers will really read M&G or any English paper for that matter. I also would like to make an appeal to all South Africans of reason and integrity (and in some cases with a bit of money) to please not be tempted – this can't and won't end well. Day after day we complain about crime and corruption, the ball is in your court. Make a difference.
