http://www.weg.co.za go! Drive & Camp^ September 2019 |^43
handed our passports to the official ourselves and checked the
stamps afterwards. Now, Emerson wanted to take our vehicle
papers from us to obtain third-party insurance at a shack
opposite customs. We had, however, bought it in advance at
an Outdoor Warehouse in Gauteng and turned down his offer.
The next step was a visit to a table immediately next to the
customs counter. Here was a another official who checked
our third-party insurance and issued us with a blank form.
Emerson took it from the official, but we insisted he give it to
us to carry. Emerson reluctantly handed it over.
Back at our car, Emerson helped with the translation of the
Portuguese on the form. It was nice of him, but we pointed out
that there are English annotations. We declared the content
of our vehicle, including occupants and electronic devices.
Hawkers selling fire extinguishers and emergency triangles
gathered around us and Emerson asked them to leave us alone.
Emerson then left, but a minute later he returned with
a customs official. The official searched our caravan, asked
some questions about our supplies, and peered under our
bakkie’s canopy. He handed us a stamped permit and wished us
a good journey. Once again, Emerson wanted all the paperwork.
We had to be firm to keep it with us. The customs official
looked on with an amused expression and said something in
Portuguese that had a few spectators grinning.
Emerson jogged on ahead and beckoned to us to follow
him in our vehicle. At the border’s last gate, a soldier took thestamped permit. Emerson waited a few steps further along, in
the middle of the road, waiting for his payment.
I handed over the MT1 000 as agreed upon, but he suddenly
wanted MT4 000. The reason, he said, was because he had to
bribe a customs official to conduct only a superficial inspection
of our caravan and that the official’s price was MT3 000. But we
insisted that he stick to our original agreement... and this is
when things got nasty. He threatened us with physical violence
and swore that he would get his customs connections to give
us a hard time.
We left under a barrage of insults.
What did we learn from this incident? You definitely don’t
need a runner to get through the border, although they can
speed up the border procedure by a few minutes. We strongly
advise you to not use the services of such a person – and never
hand any documentation to anyone other than a customs
official. The Internet teems with stories about South Africans
who could only get their passports back after a hefty ransom
was paid to a runner. So be warned.
If you lose your passport in Mozambique – no matter how- you need to report it to the nearest police station and make
your way to the South African High Commissioner in Maputo
to get an emergency travel certificate: the address is 41 Avenida
Eduardo Mondlane (on the corner of Avenida Eduardo
MondlaneandAvenidaJuliusNyerere).Orcallthemon
00 25 82 124 3000 (after hours 00 25 884 304 4600).