Having just returned from Italy after a month attending to a very sick 92-year-old mother, I was confronted by a official at customs at O R Tambo Airport, first thing in the morning.
My suitcase was wrapped at Rome airport to avoid petty thievery, which is well known at our airport.
Going through the nothing to declare line, a customs official stopped me and asked to open the suitcase.
I agreed to do that, but at this stage the official asked me what I was carrying in the case.
I replied: “Some chocolates and some salamis”.
The official stated that salamis were not allowed into the country, but that if I gave him some money he would let me go.
I was stunned, but paid him a bribe with reluctance — the gifts I brought home were more precious then the money he asked.
What I was concerned about was that the official had no name tag to identify himself, and why does not ACSA have cameras to monitor the goings on at the site, so that such cases can be reported?
Is it another form of corruption we have to live with? Does it do our country‘s reputation a lot of good?
