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File photo / Senami's spokeswoman Cira Fernandes
The Mozambican authorities are taking disciplinary and criminal action against two staff of the National Immigration Service (SENAMI) and a police officer for making illicit charges when issuing citizens with travel documents and passports.
According to SENAMI spokesperson Cira Fernandes, speaking to reporters on Thursday, the cases happened on two separate occasions last week in the Maputo City Immigration Directorate.
The two SENAMI staff are accused of accepting a bribe of 4,000 meticais (about 66 US dollars) for issuing a Mozambican citizen with the type of travel document used by Mozambican miners or farmworkers employed in South Africa.
The correct fee for such a document is 400 meticais. But the basic requirement for obtaining this travel document is employment by a legally recognised mining or agricultural company in South Africa. Applicants must prove that they have a contract with one of these companies.
Fernandes said that, in this case, the applicant admitted that he was not a miner and said he wanted to obtain urgently a document that would allow him to travel from Mozambique to South Africa.
She added that further investigations are under way to ascertain the degree of involvement of the applicant himself. If he was actively involved in offering a bribe, then he, as well as the two SENAMI staff, will be charged
The second case involved one of the police officers responsible for security on the SENAMI building. He confessed to extorting 4,000 meticais from a Mozambican woman in exchange for speeding up her passport application.
“After SENAMI became aware of this, when the injured party denounced the police officer, investigations were made to ascertain the truth of the facts”, said Fernandes. “The case was later referred to the Maputo City Police Command for further measures”.
Fernandes appealed to citizen who wished to apply for passports and other travel documents “to approach our counters in person, and avoid the use of middlemen. If anyone tries to extort an illicit charge, you should denounce them to us through our green telephone line”.
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