No Good Service For Travellers
THIS matter may sound trivial to you and most of your readers. In fact, I also took it as trivial until I got into a casual chat with fellow Namibians in the departure lounge of the OR Tambo International Airport on 3rd March 2010 while we were waiting for our flight home.
I am one of those Namibians who travels (almost shuttles) between RSA and Namibia very regularly because I work in both countries. As a result, I make extensive use of Hosea International Airport and the two border posts in the Karas Region. On my return trips I have begun to experience targeted harassment from customs and immigration officials that sometimes borders on sheer jealousy. It emerged in the above-mentioned casual talks at OR Tambo the other day that this is experienced by many black working Namibians who have the benefit of travelling – not because they want to, are special or anything – because the nature of their work requires international travel. It emerges that instead of looking forward to a happy homecoming, the immigration and customs officials have developed a tendency of spoiling our home coming in guise of “simply doing their jobs” as they
put it.
I want to make it clear that customs and immigration officials have the powers to stop, interrogate and search in-bound travellers, including returning citizens. They also have the powers to do random checks even on those who indicate they have nothing to declare. In fact, nobody argues against these powers and we mostly cooperate with such officials here in Namibia and in other countries we visit. The difference is in how these powers are exercised. In other countries officials stop you, tell you what they are going to do with you, ask you clear and direct questions and swiftly let you go if there are no problems. In Namibia returning citizens are stopped and asked unclear and ambiguous questions, required to provide information that is not applicable to them as citizens etc in a well-rehearsed fashion aimed at frustrating a traveller. When such questions create confusion and result in uncertain answers you are treated rudely and end up in unnecessary arguments. As experienced travellers know, arguments with these officials are never won. So you keep quite and allow yourself to be verbally abused just to be able to be let back into your country.
This is really unnecessary.
I cite 3 examples - 2 at our ports of entry and the other in RSA:
1. 9th Janaury 2010 around 16H00. I was returning from Cape Town entering Namibia at Noordoewer border in the company of my spouse. The female immigration official refuses to stamp my wife’s passport (a Namibian citizen by birth) because she did not fill in on the form the section indicating who is her contact person in Namibia and that person’s cell number. These are sections 18 and 19 on the arrival/departure form which non-citizens are required to complete.
Although we submitted our passports together, this info was only required of my wife and not from me. In fact in our entire travelling life we were never required to provide this info because in section 14 of the form we provide full details including physical residential address. When we pointed this out, all hell broke loose, we had to keep quiet and fill in my details as my wife’s contact because my wife’s return back into her motherland depended on this official.
2. 26th February 2010. I arrived in RSA at OR Tambo International and was subjected to a random check by the Internal Revenue Services (IRS), RSA’s equivalent of our customs. The process went as follows: IRS: “Hello sir. I notice you are in the line indicating you have nothing to declare. We would however wish to ask you a few questions as part of our random checks. Please come with me to the table.
Desmond (D): “OK” and followed the 3 officers to the desk.
IRS: “Do you have any foreign currency on you? How are you going to take care of yourselves during your stay? Do you have any firearms on you?”
D: Answered all these clear customs-related questions clearly.
IRS: “We would like to put your luggage through x-ray. Please remove your laptop from its case”.
D: Did as requested and luggage scanned.
IRS: “Enjoy your stay in South Africa”.
3. Now compare this with what transpired on 3 March 2010 on my return from Johannesburg at Hosea Kutako International Airport at 16H50. As I was leaving through “nothing to declare” section, a male customs (note not immigration) official, leaning listlessly against a table, gestured me towards him. I obliged and here follows our dialogue: Customs (C): “Can I have your passport.”
Desmond (D): “OK” and handed over the passport.
C: “Where are you coming from?” while paging through the passport.
D: “Johannesburg sir”.
C: “I know the flight is from JHB but what if it was a connecting flight?” he barked.
D:”I see, did you mean where my journey started? It is still Johannesburg sir”.
C: “How long were you in JHB” in an agitated tone.
D: “Two days”, wondering where this is leading to.
C “What were you doing there?” and before I could answer he tossed the passport in my hands, barked “You may go” and walked away.
Were these customs-related questions or? My guess is as good as yours.
My compatriots had hundreds of tales to tell about their own experiences. The question is why is this happening. Is it sheer jealousy as I am beginning to suspect? Is it because of these officials taking out their frustrations on innocent fellow country people? Does it have to do with lack of training and professionalism? Whatever the case, it is really not necessary and should be stopped.
Desmond //Gamab
Windhoek