I haven't been writing anything for a while now and it feels like my mind is going to explode. I almost forgot that I can vent myself here and not upset the people close to me so much, but rather a whole lot out there in the world of blogging. For some this might be entertaining as well.
One afternoon in April I noticed a traffic officer behind me in the traffic. It seemed like he was tailing me, but I made it off as a coincidence, seeing that we were in peak traffic and maybe he was just caught up in the same stream of traffic that I was.
I decided to test this, and I put my indicator on to turn right into Gie road and he put his on as well. As it was a long que, I decided to keep straight and turned the indicator off. He did the same. At that point I started to feel uncomfortable. After a while I had to turn right, as it was the last chance I had to turn right to get to my house. He turned too. I got to a stop street and still he was behind me. At this point we were off the main feeder road to a residential area. I got to the next stop and he was still behind me. At the circle he was still behind me. Since the turnoff from the main feeder road I have driven about 8km already and he was still behind me. We crossed Parklands main road and he was still behind me. I normally turn left at the Music school, but changed my mind and kept straight and he was there. At the next stop street I was really getting nervous. At the next stop where I had to turn left otherwise I would be driving a detour to get to my house, I stopped at another stop street. In front of me was a motorbike and Karl always tells me if I park behind a bike at a stop street and I want to turn left, that I should not squeeze in to his left. He might be a bit unstable on the bike or the wind might be blowing and then I will get a scratch on my car. I stayed behind him until he drove off, and then turned my nose slightly to go left. I still had to stop as it was a 4 way stop and it was the turn of the black pimped up Yaris coming from my right to drive. I normally laugh at cars like that, because it has black tinted windows, very shiny, low profile wheels and the person behind the steering wheel was an Indian lady not older than 12 years it seems. I thought that it does not matter how much she pimps it, it will not go faster than a Yaris, it will also not cost more than a Yaris. It will just stay a Yaris. It was my turn to go, and the siren behind me went off and the traffic officer waved at me to stop. I turned left and stopped on the side of the road, but I was petrified.
Living in South Africa and seeing what are getting reported by police and traffic officers on the TV program Carte Blanche, made me really weary. On this program journalists interviewed women that was raped by police officers in the police station. A man was arrested and taken to a police van and while he was there, his wife was raped on the front seat of his own car. It showed traffic officers man handling women in the charge office with other police men walking past doing nothing. I felt that I can become a victim or I could let him see I am not going to get intimidated by him. I phoned 10111, the police and told them that I have been followed by a policeman and when they realized it was not a policeman, but a traffic officer, they put me through to the traffic police. They did nothing. I phoned my my boyfriend Karl, and he came. I just did not want to handle this alone.
As the officer approached my window, I asked him why was he following me and he said I drove over the stop street. The one I was remembering so clearly that I did not drive over. I told him that he was lying and I did not drive over it. I asked him again why he was following me and he said he did not, looking up from his book, but not in my direction. At that stage I was in tears and I thank the Lord Karl turned up to talk to this guy. He gave me a ticket of R500 for not stopping at a stop street and R200 for verbal abuse. Karl told me to take the fine and shut up, because this guys will lock me up, and I can fight it in court. I was so upset that something like that could happen to me. It reminded me of a article I read in a womens magazine. My previous karate sensei wrote a book on self defense and she interviewed a whole lot of rapists in jail to find out what profile they look at in women that might urges them to rape that particular woman. She found out that the most likely person to get raped if the raper had to choose a random person, will be a white woman. The reason for that is, that they do not fight back, they are seen as weak and too polite to fight. In South Africa this is true, because we get raised according to the Calvinistic ways of women always need to be nice, and empathetic, putting other before her, be caring, never to fight because girls don't fight, never to make load noises, not to be rude, always act a lady, not to be aggressive, never to start a fight, always be nice to strangers, always see the good in other.
So I paid the fine, because I do not like confrontation and I have never been in a court and it sounds so vulgar for a lady to go to court.
All that this experience has done to me is, never to trust any cop again, and to next time I will stop immediately if I feel I get tailed. I will walk into any shop where other people are and stay there until he leaves. I love my country, it is a beautiful place, but this makes me wonder if there isn't another option.
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Woman-ruined-after-police-rape-20091110
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