If you're a parent, your kids hit you up for money. Whether it's for candy, a prom dress, or cheese fries and a corn dog, at some point your children will ask you to open up your waller to meet some real or perceived need.
So I wasn't surprised when Mancoba, my Swazi son, asked me for 100 rand. But it's too good a story not to tell:
You see, yesterday we got caught in a speed trap. We were caught dead to rights. The traffic slowed down entering a town and the police were there waiting for us. They indicated for Mancoba pull over and we waited to hear what the damage would be. They asked to see his license and told him to step out of the car. I don't know what they said after that but the next thing I knew he came over to me and said "dad can I have a hundred Rand, I need to bribe the cop."
About 30 seconds and one Nelson Mandela note later we were on our way. It's sad that police corruption here is like paying a toll to cross a bridge in the USA, not a scandal but just a routine expense.
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