Some country music and some frontier law

Today I heard Lonestar’s “Amazed” on the radio and had a nice taste of home.

I also heard a story about a guy who was pulled over late at night. He deserved a couple fines, but convinced the police that it wasn’t a big deal and wouldn’t happen again. His argument was helped by 150 rand, or about $2.

I think that says a lot about SA’s mix of 1st and 3rd world. My impression is that police corruption isn’t systemic (no mass infiltration by drug gangs ala Mexico) and rarely proactive (I haven’t heard of the police shaking anyone down for fines or fees they don’t deserve, which would happen in other countries). At the same time you can sometimes get out of a legitimate traffic stop for almost nothing, and their former police chief (who was also a former head of Interpol) was convicted of corruption just a few days ago.