540 Mozambicans fined for “losing” passports

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540 Mozambicans fined for “losing” passports

8:08 CAT | 13 Jul 2018

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Five hundred and forty Mozambican citizens were fined a total of 1.2 million meticais (just over 20,000 US dollars at current exchange rates) during the first quarter of 2018 for negligence leading to them losing their passports.

According to the spokesperson for the National Immigration Service (SENAMI), Cira Fernandes, during this period 674 citizens applied for a replacement passport, which represents an increase of 41 per cent compared with the same quarter last year.

Fernandez told the daily newspaper ‘Noticias’ that, of this total, 443 claimed their original document had been stolen, whilst 164 stated that they had misplaced their passport. The rest said they needed a replacement due to a deterioration in the condition of their document.

Most of the requests came from the city of Maputo and the southern provinces of Maputo and Gaza.

Fernandez argued that imposing fines is an educational measure to discourage people from the criminal act of lending their passports to other people. She believed the fines will make people more responsible with the use of their documents.

Those found to be negligent need to pay a fine of 2,400 meticais along with the cost of replacing the passport. However, the effectiveness of the fines is questionable, as Fernandes admitted that only 30 of the 540 fines issued have been paid, raising just 72,000 meticais.

Fernandes also revealed that during the same period SENAMI registered 2,065,619 foreigners coming into Mozambique. She said the increase was partially based on the country’s political stability, tourism, business opportunities, and the discovery of natural resources. To meet the growth in people crossing the border, SENAMI had increased its number of inspections to 2,145 compared with 943 in the same period last year.

The increased inspection has not been welcomed by everyone. According to the TimesLive news website, thirty South Africans who overstayed their visas have had their passports confiscated, and they are complaining that they need to pay fines before their documents are returned.

Source: AIM