This is the law that I broke
I have crossed many borders with improper stamps, expired visas, and disordered paperwork, but have always found a way around paying fees or being detained. Usually it’s my charm and a few culturally relevant jokes that get me out of these tight situations. On Saturday for the first time in my life I didn’t have such luck.
The Mozambique-Swaziland border is about a 10 minute walk from my current location. I left the house at around 10am hoping to make it to Mbabane, the capital of Swaziland, by noon. After sliding my passport to the Mozambican immigration official (who looked surprising like Terrell Owens) he gave me it back and told me that I owed him MT 3000 for the two days my visa had been expired. Me “hmm, that’s interesting, last time this happened I only paid MT 50 per day” (I completely made that up). Border guard “that’s impossible, the fee is MT 1500 per day, and that’s what you’re going to pay. Me “There’s no way I’m paying that, I want to talk to your boss”. After about 30 minutes his boss came out, I had a similar conversation with him. Then I went outside and called some people, I even spoke to a border guard at another border and they all told me that I should just pay. So before I decided to pay I asked the chief the show me the law in writing that said I had to pay this money. He showed it to me (see photo below). I was fucked! Particularly when I realized that I didn’t have MT 3000 and would have to walk about a half an hour to get to the bank. I walked to the bank, the ATM was out of money so I had to take a bus an hour in the other direction to get money. The whole process took me about 7 hours. The border chief, Omar, is now my friend. Long story short, maybe I’ll stop trying to push my luck.
